STARS
by LusciousNesha
Summary: A group of advanced extraterrestrials have been kept prisoner for the entire course of their lives, being studied and experimented on by humans, after their peculiar landing on Earth several years ago. Dr. Sam Evans, the scientist in charge of the Scientific Tasks and Resarch System has been working diligently for years with a particular group, and he has a secret...
1. Prologue

With such a group as the ones who escaped, the center did not stand a chance. The laboratory did not stand a chance. The _world _did not stand a chance. Dr. Sam Evans rushed through the corridors, a determined look on his face, as he touched the walls. He walked with purpose for several feet, then stopped. He could hear something. He turned and looked behind him at the empty hallway. His bright green eyes smiled at nothing there. That was when Dr. Evans turned his back and began to walk away. As he did, he sensed someone there. He knew that they were trailing him. Going to try to take him hostage, perhaps? This brought a smirk from him.

Sam felt something pierce him and he looked down at the hole in his midsection to watch it grow with the blood flowing from him. "I told you to knock him out!" He heard her snap. Now, they were all visible again. They were hovered above him.

"I guess I got carried away," the male's voice said. Puck… Sam chuckled and looked over at him, seeing his arms folded and his face without remorse. He didn't blame them. He couldn't blame them.

Mercedes touched his face and exchanged a quick mental message with him, _Blaine will heal you._

_No. Let me die. It's for the best. _Sam thought.

Mercedes was having none of it. She waved Blaine over. "We're taking him with us. We'll need you to heal him." Blaine nodded his head and reached towards Dr. Evans with both hands. He touched him for a moment, then pulled away and collapsed. "Blaine!" Mercedes called, concerned.

Sugar said, "If I'm going to shield us out of here, we need to go. I'm getting tired."

Mercedes ordered, "Rory, grab Blaine and Dr. Evans. Sugar, lead the way." Rory separated into four versions of himself to gather up the two unconscious males and the group made their way towards escape.

**The Day the Storm Occurred**


	2. The Day the Storm Hit the World

_I know that it's going to seem choppy at certain places and such, but I promise, the way that I'm formatting the introductions to the characters is on purpose and I hope that you can trust me to make it all come to make sense, if it really isn't now. With that, please enjoy and regular readers, know that I have not forgotten about my other stories, and I will definitely be updating them to completion. But, please bear in mind that my crazy self has began several different fics and the updates may not be as quick on some of them as you might be used to with me. I love you, though and hope that it isn't too much of an inconvenience._

_**Previously, at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**The Day the Storm Hit the World**

**Mercedes:**

_ If you let them tell it, we've been here the entire time. The Scientific Tasks and Research System is our "home." We were born here, we were raised here and we are a part of something "great"… something that is going to make the world a better place and something that will help all mankind. Why they think that they can tell lies and get away with it is beyond me. Oh, wait, right… because they don't fully understand what it is that they are dealing with. They don't understand WHO we are. I know that they don't. They can't. I don't even know why I'm here, but I do know how I got here. I used to think it was some type of dream, but none of the others dream, so this became another enigma for the doctors at the facility to try to decipher. I confirmed our history while studying through Dr. Evans' head. He always seems to know that I'm in there…_

"Hello, Mercedes. How are you today?" Dr. Evans asked the young woman, dressed in her bright red pantsuit, with a gag in her mouth. Her big, brown eyes blinked and her long eyelashes fluttered as she rolled them at his question. "Oh, what? It isn't like you can't communicate with me without the usage of your mouth… We have to be safe, after that last time," Dr. Evans told her. She glared at him. That last time, meaning when they messed up with their damned testing and hurt the hell out of her and she accidentally screamed and killed several doctors and broke millions of dollars worth of equipment… as far as she was concerned, that was on them, for their mistake. But, look who was taking the blame. As though it's not instinct to defend one's self.

Now, she was always bound and gagged, unless they wanted to question her. Then, she was either taken to The Graeae, where her ability to utilize her "powers" was prohibited, or they woul use drugs. The doctor looked upon her with gentlesness in his eyes. It was sad to see such a magnificent creature kept in such condition. He offered, "Tell you what – if you promise not to scream, I promise to take it off of you." He folded his arms across his chest and she nodded her head, reluctantly. When he removed it, he smiled at her and softly stroked a crease in her face, where her muzzle had been cutting into her skin for being on for so long. "It's a shame that you make them have to do this to you." _So beautiful… _

She refused to react to his compliment. Instead she backed her face away from his hand. He smiled softly at her and returned to his computer. _Dr. Schuester's request to give her a breeding partner is denied. However, I am on board for the pairing of Quinn and Noah. The potential of breeding a mind controller with powers of projection and one who can eminate substance secretion of solids, liquid, and gas… Approved! _She watched as he entered his electronic signature for the approval for two of her friends to be assigned to breed and she glared at the side of his head. These people really thought that they could simply do whatever they wanted!

Dr. Evans glanced at the woman, then began to think to himself, _Pretty little thang, let me light your candle casue Mama I'm sure hard to handle… _He glanced at her and saw her eyebrow jolt ever so slightly. She noticed his eyes alert to the minimal reaction and she turned her head away. He knew that she was reading his mind. She was _always _reading minds. He decided to mess with her. He imagined her, dressed in a very revealing, sexy, sultry, tight cat suit with her cleavage pouring from the top and… She shut off her window into his mind, with a grimace. "Reading people's minds without their permission is very rude," he told her, smirking at his screen.

"Binding people's arms and sticking a gag in their mouths isn't very hospitable, either, Dr. Evans," she said with sass. "Besides, I think it's time we cut the bull. You and I both know that my friends and I aren't "people." The sooner everyone admits that, the more sense the existence of S.T.A.R.S. and everything that you people do here will make.

Dr. Evans sat on his chair and held it with both hands while he stared at her for a moment. "What is it that you want me to say, Mercedes? I will tell you whatever you wanna hear," he said. "You aren't a human being. You're something else."

"Good. Now, maybe you can stop calling me _Mercedes. _That's not my name," she said.

"Isn't it? Do you know of another name by which you've ever been called?" He asked, studied her, intently, like he really wanted to know the answer. _Come on, Girl. Tell me exactly who you are… _She shut her eyes and took a deep breath as he watched her in disappointment. "I didn't think so." He pushed himself up to his feet and began to touch his computer screen, "Your blood cells still look bad."

"I'm dying," she said. "The precog told me."

He didn't even bother to face her as he asked, "When did you speak to the precog? It's my understanding that around The Graeae, you aren't supposed to be able to use your powers."

"It isn't a _power, _it's a part of our genetic makeup… and, for some reason, I could. I guess that gets me more tests this week. Now, let's figure out why Mercedes not only has sonic scream and telepathy, but why is she able to use these when in the presence of the wonderfully constructed Graeae?" Mercedes said bitterly.

Now, Dr. Evans looked at her and said, "I don't have to test why that is. I already know. I was simply wondering if you have any idea of why that's so." And for a short moment, she saw him think about something... an article in a newspaper: _25 Years Since the Day the Storm Hit the World! _Beneath that were photographs of devastated areas and a collection of several babies. She could not help but to gasp at this thought – it was like her dreams. Dr. Evans quickly shielded his thoughts from her, by thinking of her scantily clad again. That would become his main gesture of mental defense against her ability. Another thing that would also start at that time (other than her belief in the storm from her dreams)… he would allow her out of her muzzle when she visited his office.

**The Graeae:**

In Greek mythology, they were three witches, sisters who could use one eye to see and they had to share it. The translation of their name means "grey ones," "old ones," or "grey witches." Which was why Mercedes always thought it was a completely ridiculous name for the device that Dr. Schuester designed to restrain their natural abilities… because it was powered by three women – one they named April, a pretty blond whose original ability was proximity hypnosis. She could literally charm/entrance anyone within viewing distance of her, one they named Shelby, a pretty brunette who had the ability to sense other abilities. If there were those like Mercedes and the rest, she could always sense and find them, and one named Emma, a pretty redhead who they called the pre-cog. She could see the future, tell the future.

These three women had all been blinded in a freak accidental explosion that left nearly everyone involved dead or injured, and their powers became heightened by their handicap. Sadly, that meant for the doctors injuring others, to test if the same thing would happen. Some were blinded, some made deaf… no other injured persons responded the same way.

While studying these women, Schuester found that between the three of them, they seemed to have found a common wavelength on which they operated. He enclosed them in a glass chamber, connected them together, entered tubes and wires into them, to cause them to receive nourishment and tampered with their brains, in order to control their connected abilities. That was when Dr. Schuester and Dr. Evans first began having problems. Schuester had gone behind Evans' back to do this project, but it had been so successful that the director ordered Dr. Evans to stand down.

Now, The Graeae was used to sense nearby powers and charm the holder into submission. None of them were able to use their powers when anywhere near the Graeae, and Will used the pre-cog to try to get answers about the subjects. Her answers were elusive and often evasive, so the doctor worked diligently on getting Emma under full control. When Mercedes pointed out that it was impossible for his human mind to get ahead of a pre-cog, he had her gagged. Presently, she and Sam stared up at The Graeae. "They're beautiful, aren't they? It's like they glow in there, despite the fact that this capsule is a prison for them," Dr. Evans observed. Mercedes did not say anything. "Don't be afraid to die. Some people think that death is only the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" She asked him. He shrugged his shoulders. Hell if he understood people. Evans was the type to stay to himself. He had enough work to do to not have to concern himself with a "social life." He had enough goals to not have to worry about working "too much."

He escorted Mercedes back to her lonely chamber and positioned the gag on her mouth. She shut her eyes tightly. The creases were burning her skin, still. He took the gag off and pointed a warning finger at her, "When they come back here for you. Don't scream, or this gag will never be taken off of your mouth, again." He stepped back and allowed the door to slide shut as she sent him a message. _Thank you, Sam. _He gave her a small smile and disappeared down the hallway as she lied down on her bed, with her arms still bound in front of her. She curled into a ball, with her eyes open and waited for sleep.

_ Twenty five years ago, Earth was in a panic. There seemed to be shooting stars coming down like rain. They thought that their world was ending. They thought it was going to be the apocalypse. Huge meteors crashed to the world, all over the world, leaving devastation and destruction everywhere! Military forces, firemen, police and volunteers all rallied together to the sites and what was found in the center of each large hole shocked and confused everyone… infants! _

_ Some of the infants were killed upon sight, because they were feared as being something evil or menacing. But, most of them were collected, and placed in the special care of a team of scientists and soldiers, which would later become the STAR program, in the most advanced scientific research facilities known to man. _

Twenty five years later, Mercedes opened her eyes… that "dream" felt more real than ever. She pushed herself up to lean against the wall and mentally called out, _I had another dream. In this one, they set some of the craters on fire… they burned some of us alive! _

_Calm down, Mindwhisper. Don't think about all of those things. Go to sleep…_

_Before I do, I want to warn you… they're going to try to make you and Puck mate… _and by the tie Quinn was about to question her on it, she was already asleep.

_Mindwhisper? What do you mean? _But the connection to their brain had shut down. _Damn it. _Quinn had willed Mercedes to sleep with her mind control powers. Technically, even though Quinn was not speaking to Mercedes, Mercedes could hear her voice through the connection she made when she reached out to her with her telepathy. But, with her asleep, Quinn couldn't do a thing to get back into her mind. "Ugh!"

Now, Quinn couldn't sleep! And unlike fortunate her fortunate sister, Quinn could not will herself to do anything. But, their abilities were progressing all of the time. Of course, they kept that secret, (they learned their lesson from watching what happened to their sisters who became the Graeae), but Quinn was confident that someday, they would all be powerful enough to finally break free of the imprisonment of the facility and the exploitation from the doctors. _Mate with Puck? _She sighed and shifted slightly, wondering how they thought _that _might work?

Mercedes had told her that Dr. Evans thought that if Quinn practiced and strengthened her power, she would be able to control others with just a look, or even as advanced as just a thought… she looked forward to such a future, if it was indeed possible. After all, he thought that eventually Mercedes would be able to communicate telepathically with people extremely far away and maybe even multiples, simultaneously – and now, Mercedes was regularly communicating with Quinn, despite the fact that their cells were the furthest from each other's as any other cells. "Sleep tight, Sister… but you better contact me as soon as you wake up," Quinn said. If by chance their connection was still open, her suggestion might be received.


	3. The Mating Game

_**Previously at STARS…**_

**The Mating Game**

**Quinn:**

Mercedes and Quinn were sisters, in every sense of the word. Both of them had a power that pertained to the mind, and both of them were feared so much that they were always restrained. Quinn could make anyone who could hear her voice do whatever she wanted them to. It had been her idea to try to escape, the very first time that they ever tried. But, it sadly ended in one of their own being killed and them being subdued, captured and condemned to even stricter lives. But, whenever she and Mindwhisper figured out how to maximize their abilities, this place was going to go up in flames!

"Penny for your thoughts?" Dr. Schuester said to her. He handed her a pen and set a notepad by her hand. She scribbled something down and he nudged his head at it, obviously nervous that she might be able to control him through written word, as well. Someday, she believed that she would be able.

His assistant, Dr. Berry – bright eyed, brownnoser fresh out of school collected the notepad and looked at him, awkwardly. "Dr. Schuester, I don't think that these words are fit for the lips of a lady," she said, tore the sheet of paper out and wadded it up.

"It doesn't matter. Give her the serum," Schuester ordered. _What serum? _She wondered. _Mindwhisper? Are you there? Schuester is about to try to give me something! _Quinn felt panicked. She looked at Dr. Berry, coming towards her with a set, not one, but a set of syringes, with different color fluids in them. Berry picked up one and Quinn glared into her eyes. The young doctor's hand trembled as she tried to inject a red fluid into her. "Remarkable. Their survival instincts kick in and their powers become more forceful. I wonder to what degree of an increase is this that she can fight you without the ability to speak." Schuester distanced himself from the two of them, careful to not get sucked into the mental control that Quinn was currently using to defend herself. "Dr. St. James, please enter my laboratory," Schuester paged.

Dr. Berry injected the red fluid into her own neck, with a wince, then and orange fluid, and then a yellow. Schuester shook his head, astounded as he paged, "Terri, bring me another round of mating serum." When Dr. St. James entered the lab, so casually and unsuspecting, Schuester said, "I need you to pull Rachel away from Quinn." Dr. St. James looked over to see his colleague crying as she injected the last of the rainbow colored fluids into her own neck and he quickly punched Quinn in the face and collected Dr. Berry. "Good job," Schuester said, observing the unconscious Quinn, still from afar.

"What should I do with Dr. Berry?" Dr. St. James asked.

"Put her in a cage, until the serum wears off, or we'll have an extremely volatile situation," Schuester said as his wife/assistant entered the room. "Quinn needs the serum, then have her taken to Noah's cell." Dr. Berry still looked dazed as Dr. St. James led her out of the lab.

"What went wrong?" Terri asked, before going anywhere near Quinn.

Dr. Schuester took the kit from her and went to administer them himself. "_Dominatrix _showed herself," he said with a smirk. "In flight or fight scenarios, she just proved that she can use her power without the usage of her mouth."

"For God's sake! Will… these things are becoming more and more dangerous. Don't you think that it's about time that you scrap them?" She asked, watching her husband inject needles into the arm of the creature that looked like a young lady.

"Terri – we have so much that we can glean from them. We should do everything in our power to know everything that there is to know. My work here could save our lives. It could save our world. We plan on having a family someday. Our family deserves an inheritance. Besides, you and I both know that Director Sylvester would never scrap this project. Even when her most familiar and best researcher died, she continued…" he said, somewhat bitterly, "Then just _hands _his son the highest job in the division!"

"Dr. Evans seems to know his stuff and this job is all that he has and all that he cares about. I say you let him have it and we get out of here. Cities have been rebuilt. There are societies that are unaffected by all of the mess that these little things brought with them 25 years ago…"

"Terri," Dr. Schuester said as he injected the last of the serum into Quinn. "We've discussed this. This is my life's work. Please escort Quinn to her mating session." Terri frowned, but began to move the wheelchair of the bound and gagged mind controller out of her husband's lab. He got onto his radio device and asked, "Dr. Hudson, is Noah prepared for the mating schedule?"

"Yes, Dr. Schuester," the younger male responded.

Dr. Evans passed by his colleagues, Rachel and Jesse, and noticed that Rachel seemed to be all over her male counterpart. Jesse was doing an okay job of holding her at bay, but the behavior was extremely odd for her, especially considering that her fiancé was another of their colleagues. "Dr. Berry, what's going on?" He asked.

"Have you ever noticed how _sexy _Jesse is? He is superior to every man in every way!" She commented. Sam's eyebrow shot up and he looked at the stressed out and flustered Dr. St. James.

The man shook his head and said, "I've been trying to get her into a cage for several minutes, now. That Quinn made her shoot herself with the mating serum and now, she's… well… she's like this!" Jesse said, trying to struggle his way away from her hands attempting to journey into his pants. He pulled his lab coat closed as Dr. Evans pulled something out of his own coat. He gave her a quick spray to the nose and she tripped and fell onto Jesse.

"That should give you a few minutes. Get her into a cage and meet me in my office," Evans said and stormed towards Will's laboratory, holding his PDA. As of yet, Schuester had not reported Dr. Berry's incident and he was going to find out why it was not immediately documented. There was no knowledge of what such serum might do to the human body, but more importantly to Dr. Evans – if Quinn accomplished this, he _knew _that it had to be while she was unable to speak. Her ability had grown and Will had not mentioned it.

_Better not to let him know that you're on to him… _He suddenly heard Mercedes say. _If he knows, he'll try extra hard to hide things._ Dr. Evans sighed and clenched his fists. He wanted to rage against Schuester, but Mercedes was right. If he did that, the bastard would simply devise more tactics to sneak around behind his back. He turned at the appropriate spot and headed for his office. _Good choice._

_So… how does this work, exactly? Can you see what I'm actually doing in your mind, or just hear the thoughts? Do you hear all thoughts, or just the thoughts of those that you find irresistible? _Sam wondered.

_I listen for the calls of my friends, and I wait for the faults of my enemies, _she replied.

_And, which am I, exactly? _He asked. He waited. She didn't respond, but he knew that she was still there. It was like he was starting to _feel _her when she was inside… which was most of the time, now. Actually, the times when he didn't feel her inside of his mind were the times that became most unsettling to him… Then, she shut him off! Dr. Evans sighed at that empty feeling her absence gave him. He sat down in front of his computer and opened a video file.

_ Sam Evans entered the room and nervously fumbled around. "Hi, I am Dr. Evans…"_

"_Yeah. Yeah, I know. I knew the other Dr. Evans, too. He was in charge here," she said, seated calmly, with her hands in her lap. "You're much younger than the other doctors," she observed. _

"_I'm a prodigy. You and I are around the same age. I'm a couple of years older," he said and bit his lip. "Uh… but, even with the other people – the people with normal minds, doctors are getting younger… all occupations, actually. Y'all made that possible," he said, then shut up. Mercedes simply stared at him. If he was a couple of years older than her, that made him seventeen. A 17 year old human doctor – like the adults weren't reckless enough? "Mercedes, I am not here to hurt you. I simply wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and I want to complete his life's work."_

"_Your statement contradicts itself. If you aren't here to hurt me, you can't do your father's work. If you do your father's work, then you are here to hurt me. That's what the doctors here do, Sam. They hurt us. They hurt us like it's their job," She said and glared at him._

"_Well, then – I am here to _perfect _my father's work," he told her, then added, "You called me Sam."_

"_Bad habit," she said._

"_No, I like it. You can call me Sam. We're going to be friends, Mercedes," he said._

"_If we're supposedly friends, don't call me Mercedes. That's not my name," she told him. _

Dr. Evans heard the door of his office and he quickly shut off his video. He turned to see Dr. St. James enter, looking ravished and guilty. "Jesse?" He said.

"Sam… I messed up," he said.

"It's alright, Jess. It wasn't your fault. It was Schuester's. Dr. Berry should have been properly escorted to the cage. Did you leave any DNA?"

"I had to have, Sam… and plus the video!" Jesse said, freaking out.

"Calm down, Jess," Sam said.

"She woke up when we got to the cage and she just wouldn't let up…" Jesse said.

"Jesse. I will take care of it, alright? Get yourself cleaned up, then bring Mercedes, Kurt and Blaine to me for their connectivity experiments," Dr. Evans said. Jesse nodded his head and made his move. Dr. Evans put his head down on his desk and let out a grunt. _Damn it, Jesse! _"Security, please pick up Dr. St. James from his quarters and quarantine him in one of the cages. Thank you." _I thought that Jesse was your friend. _Mercedes commented.

Sam had taken quite a risk allowing Jesse to work for him. Everyone already believed that the only reason he had a job was because they were friends, but now – Jesse couls end up under investigation and that might bring some secrets to the surface that Sam was not ready to allow to be known. _Jesse has jeopardized things by having questionably consensual sexual relations with a colleague. _

Mercedes was not going to let up. She and her friends were willing to die for each other. They literally shared their struggles. The struggles that Dr. Evans and his friends forced upon them. She retorted, _It's not 'questionable.' It _isn't_ consensual, but that only seems to matter when it's one of you under the influence of that mess that you inject into us, trying to see what our reproductive systems are like…_

_I don't have time for this, Mercedes. I have to conduct some experiments on my colleagues to see that this serum hasn't negatively affected their bodies. And as for your little jab, _YOU _never have had any of it injected into you, and you never will. At least try to be grateful for that! _He got up from the desk, collecting his portable computer pad and a few other necessities.

_When something happens to one of us, it happens to all. Because to you, we all are the same… _Sam combated her entry with thoughts of her, thoughts of them, together, him inside of her, her holding onto him tightly… He felt her leave his mind and as much as he hated that feeling, he needed her gone, right now. It would be difficult to concentrate on his work and stay alert enough to scare her out of his mind, but he simply couldn't deal with her attacks to his conscious, today.

From anyone else, he might not care; but when she said those things to him, he couldn't stand it. She might not understand. She may never understand, but this was his only option. This was the only way for him to accomplish all that he knew needed to be accomplished. Some were hurt, some died – he couldn't stop that. He could only do what was within his power to do with the resources that he had.

Mercedes shivered at the thoughts that Dr. Evans projected into her mind. Hell, now she was thinking about them! That made her skin crawl and her belly flutter, at the same time. That feeling was gross and unacceptable. But, if she had to be honest, sometimes, she entered into his mind just to see if she could catch him thinking about her and whenever she did, it was exhilarating. But, that most current thought had just frightened her. He was angry when he thought it, so his anger and the thought combined just made her feel highly exposed and uncomfortable. She felt tears running down her face and she choked out a gasp and tried to wipe them on her shoulder. She was crying! She never cried! How did _he _have the power to make her do so? _You care about him. _She heard, and was startled to realize… this was her own thought.

Quinn blinked her eyes, opened them, and jumped up. Puck was across the room, seated in the corner, with his head rested against his knees. She looked around and noticed their jumpsuits in a wad across the cell. She crawled over to hers and put it on. She picked up Puck's. It was slashed, wet and gross. She still carried it across the cell with her and draped it around his shoulders. Puck looked up at her, with blackish red tears falling from his eyes. She wiped them with his jumpsuit. "It wasn't your fault, Puck. You had as much control over it as I did."

"They shouldn't be allowed to do this to anyone. I don't care HOW bad our abilities are or how scary it is to have us in the world…" Puck cried. Quinn began to cough. "Go back over there. You can't breathe me in while I'm like this."

"This jumpsuit looks like you were like this earlier. I survived," she said with a shrug. "I won't leave you alone, as long as I'm here."

"But, with all that stuff in my system, all I would've been secreting was probably hormones, pheromones, and stuff like that. Now, it's gone and I'm just upset and angry. I woke up and you were here, next to me. I always thought that if something like that happened, I'd be happy… but damn it, I would never want it like that. I can remember it. I know that you can. That's not how it should be. That's not how it is in the movies."

"I think that the movies are fake, Puck. But, I agree. That isn't how it should be." She cupped his face and said, "But, we will make them pay, Puck. Stop crying. Use all of these feelings so that you can draw power from them when we need it." Quinn sealed her command with a soft kiss and whispered, "That's what it should be like." She smelled a strong scented gas and she covered her face, "Is that you?" She asked.

"No, that's them. They'll have to knock us out to be able to get in and out of the cage. I guess they're taking you away now." Puck opened his hand and a small gash opened in it and a blackish red stone came out of the gash. He placed it into Quinn's fist and kissed her on the forehead. She squeezed it tightly and coughed until she went unconscious. Puck, a bit more used to it, by now simply set his head back against the wall and waited for it to put him to sleep. Quinn would wake up in her own cell, bound, gagged, and possibly impregnated… He hoped that they wouldn't take his little gift to her away. For all he knew, he might never see her or their possible baby again.


	4. Expect Some Changes

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**Expect Some Changes  
**

**Kurt and Blaine:**

Director Sylvester always looked so stellar in her pantsuits, and much of the times wore shades to the point that Sam jokingly referred to her as "Cyclops," the mutant from X-Men. She was all about business when she entered his lab on this day. He had Mercedes, Blaine and Kurt sitting at the testing table, going through their routine practices for observation when she interrupted with, "Doctor Evans, I need you to turn on the monitors and watch what is taking place outside."

"I already know, Cyclops and trust me, that's the least of our problems, right now," he said. Mercedes was carefully watching the Director and trying to figure out what it was that she was so alarmed about. She could sense it, in her mind – the level of fear in the woman that someone with eyes only would never be able to see. Then, she realized that her hand was intertwined with Kurt's and she was probably picking up on the emotions from them trying to join their abilities… if they were successful. Unless of course, her power was changing, as she thought and she was going to be able to even feel what a person felt when she entered their mind. She pulled her hand free from Kurt. Yes, it was still there, that fear inside of Sue.

"You're right," Sylvester said, "Now, we have a problem of trying to establish how many more of them have infiltrated our system, what they know and how to deal with them."

"Only, there is no conclusive way to tell if anyone is a Starchild, is there?" Dr. Evans asked her and used his gloved hands to connect Kurt and Mercedes' fingers again. "Our exercise is not over," he told them.

"Dr. Hudson and Dr. Schuester have been working on something. Now is the time to put it into experimentation, not only on bloodwork, but on them. Since these are the first ones that I see, they'll be the first up and _why _does she not have a muzzle on her?" She pointed right at Mercedes, who now felt extreme worry and terror coming from Kurt through one hand and the life being drained out of her from the other. She wriggled in her seat and both of them put their abilities in check.

"It is possible to deal with them like they have feelings, because they do," Sam said.

"Artificial, I'm sure."

Kurt ground his teeth and Mercedes heard him think _I'd show her just how real our feelings are if I could get my hands on her! _Mercedes giggled and stroked his hand with her thumb. Blaine noticed it and looked at Kurt, wondering what he was thinking, but if Kurt was anything like him, they were thinking along the same lines about this Director bitch.

"Well, whatever the case may be. Treat her with respect and she behaves," Dr. Evans informed Sylvester.

"Like a good doggie?" She asked, then told him, "Make no mistake, Dr. Evans – you can't tame a wild beast and you cannot domestic an alien menace."

"I have no authentic confirmation that they are an alien menace," Evans said. "I've known Jesse all of this time and he's never done anything to indicate that he was a threat to anyone and the one thing that he did do could have _easily _happened to anyone."

_What the hell are they even talking about right now? _Blaine wondered in his mind.

Mercedes answered, _Jesse… he's one of us, _she told both he and Kurt and they nboth gasped and turned to look at her.

"Stop them from doing that!" Sylvester said and pointed to them, "She's transmitting messages."

"We're having a conversation, just like the two of you are and it isn't hurting anyone," Mercedes corrected.

"You are speaking without permission and I hate your voice. Muzzle!" Sylvester called out and her assistant, Becky came to hurriedly put Mercedes' gag back on her. Mercedes was not having it today.

"Becky, you seem like an alright kid. Step back or I am going to make your ears bleed," she said. Mercedes looked at Sue as Becky backed away from her and said, "If you want me muzzled, you get over here and do it yourself. People like you and Dr. Schuester make me sick, always getting others to do your dirty work. Hanging out other people to dry!" She said throwing a glare in Sam's direction. He knew that she was referring to him having Jesse apprehended, which indirectly resulted in a slew of other issues for the poor young doctor, who turned out to be one of their own.

Mercedes had known for a time. Sam had known the entire time. She had a certain level of respect for him, because of that. She knew it, probably before he did. The other Dr. Evans had known that the little boy in the neighborhood was different than the other kids. Dr. Evans had been observing Jesse and trying to see what these "creatures" may be like if not brought up in the center. Jesse was a project to him and now, Mercedes had began to think that he was for Sam, too. But, Jesse and Sam had been such great friends. Damn it, Jesse would have done anything for Sam! Her eyes stung with tears as Director Sylvester neared her, cautiously with the muzzle. "Stand down, Blaine and Kurt. Do not touch her," Mercedes said as she took her hands from out of theirs.

When Sue began to put the gag around her face, Mercedes reached out and caught her wrist. Sue felt extreme anguish and extreme pain. She felt like all of the sorrow, rage, and fear in the world was hers to bear alone and she felt like all of her life was being drained from her. _Welcome to how we feel… _Sue heard not only Mercedes' voice, but the voice of the other two inside of her mind, as well. Sam sprayed Mercedes' nose with the agent he used to sedate them and she let go of the woman and passed out.

He took the gag away from a now crying Sylvester and began to restrain and silence Mercedes while she was unconscious, while explaining to the Director. "She wasn't going to seriously hurt you. She just wanted to scare you." He wondered what exactly Mercedes had just said to make Sue react that way.

_I felt something… it was so bizarre. It was like she was harnessing my ability, even though we weren't touching. _Blaine thought to himself.

_I felt it too, and I can still hear you. _Kurt thought back. The two of them looked at each other, then looked at Mercedes. _Is she really unconscious? _Blaine reached out to touch her, but Sue took the aesthetic cane that she carried and pinned his hand to the table. "Don't you even dare think of waking her."

"I just wanted to check on her. It seemed like she…"

"She's fine." Dr. Evans said to quickly silence Blaine. Blaine pulled his hand from beneath the cane and held it in his lap.

"You two, get up. You're still the first test subjects for the testing. We'll see how this new process sizes up the Starchildren to the human beings."

**Jesse:**

Outside, a group of protestors carried signs and hassled the doctors coming in and out of the structure to free Jesse. One of the leading protesters took to the stage on the news. Beneath the screen was only one word for her name, SIGHTGIFT. As Kurt, Blaine and Jesse watched the screen, Will and Finn prepared to administer their test to them. Sightgift was an Asian woman with dark clothes and jewels surrounding her eyes. "Jesse St. James has proven himself as a citizen of this world and he has done nothing wrong. He only wanted to have the chance at a real life, just like the humans and to be able to do it without captivity and persecution! And now, they have somehow found out that he is a Starchild and he has been taken PRISONER inside of that place! He was a colleague to them and a friend and they have him locked away. They came to his home and stole all of his things. They are trying to make it as though he never existed in the world. But, I know that he's in there." She looked right into the camera and said, "I can see it."

The reporter, Andrea Carmicheal asked, "What do you mean that you can see it?"

Sightgift answered, "Contrary to popular belief, not all of the Starchildren were abuducted by the human tyrants and imprisoned in that lab. Some wee taken in by decent people and raised by allies. Some of _us _are functioning members of a dysfunctional society that aims to oppress and possibly even terminate us. We have lived with this secret. We've lived in the shadows, but now that they have taken one of us who has had the chance to prove himself and has proven that he is neither a threat or an enemy, now – they've made an enemy… and I am not nearly as nice as Jesse," she said, glaring into the camera.

"What is your power?" Carmichael asked, excitedly to be actually speaking to a self-proclaimed Starchild.

"Vision."

Jesse muttered, "No, no, no, no, Tina!"

"Vision?" The reporter said.

Sightgift went on to say, "So far, I have mastered heat vision, infrared vision, miscroscopic vision, night vision, telescopic vision, thermal vision, and x-ray vision," as she confessed this, her eyes changed color with each vision dynamic. "Nice bra, by the way, though I don't think that blue is your color." Carmichael blushed and Sightgift's eyes went back to their brown color. "The humans thought that if they captured us and locked us up that they would eliminate a threat. What they have actually done was to create one. I am not saying that we are going to attack you, but I can tell you that as a free Starchild who can see any of you coming miles and miles away… we refuse to allow you to keep doing this. We have been trying to accomplish the freedom of our brethren through your channels for years. But, taking one of us who was trying to help from the proper angle was a declaration of war. Brethren, if you can hear me… be prepared. You will be free. That is all." Then, she seemingly vanished.

Andrea Carmichael gasped and turned to the camera, "Oh my GOD, did you see that! She disappeared!" The television went off and Kurt and Blaine both stared at Jesse.

He looked at them and said, "Actually, she didn't disappear. Mike made her appear chameleon, because he can adapt, then he got her out of there… probably with one of his muscle memory tricks. With the two of them as enemies, the humans might be in some deep trouble."

"How many of you were out there?" Blaine asked.

"I'm not sure," Jesse said, shaking his head. "Trust me, we weren't just out there leaving you all in here to rot. We were trying to formulate plans of how to free you. I wanted to try to help from the inside."

"What do you do?" Kurt asked. Jesse gave him a confused look. Kurt explained, "Blaine has the power to heal and more recently, to hurt others with his touch. I'm an empathy. Mercedes reads minds, and has sonic scream… what do you do?"

Jesse said, "I don't talk about what I do." He turned and looked at Will and Finn. Finn looked like he wanted to murder him. "And I never would have told them that there were more of us on the outside. Tina might have just began a witchhunt."

"At least she's taking some action," Blaine accused.

Jesse turned to look at him and shook his head, "You of all people should know how hard this has been for me. You and Kurt wear a white jumpsuit. You two are trustees in this place. You don't see the way that the ones in the red jumpsuits look at you? Mercedes is probably the only one that doesn't, because she knows your minds… Just like she knows mine. She never told. Don't you think that if I was a threat or a traitor, she might have shared that with you all?"

"Are all of those protestors Starchildren?" Kurt wondered.

"No. Most of them are human allies. People who grew up with us that we trusted with our secret, or people whose families we were adopted into. I know for a fact that the main protestors, Dustin, Holly, and Grace are all human. Some of the others might be S.I.D." Kurt's eyebrows furrowed at the acronym and Jesse cleared it up, "Starchildren in Disguise. We wanted to prove that you all could be free agents without being a danger. When they went to take my things, I think it was because I was going to be transferred out of here, but my friends on the outside panicked, because I couldn't contact them… and they began to rally up. That's how I was found out." He chuckled.

"Could your ability help us out?" Kurt asked.

"Of course. All of our abilities are helpful. We could have made this world a better place, if given the chance. But, alas… the humans want to use us as tools or weapons of power and dominance." He glared at Finn and Will. Sam, Rachel and Becky were all present to give blood, in order to run it through this new testing system that was supposed to determine whether or not someone was human or alien.

Rachel looked at Jesse and he could see the hurt and disgust in her face. To be honest, it hurt him. It cut him pretty deep for her to look at him, like that. He'd always liked her, but he respected her relationship, even though he could tell that their feelings were mutual. He never would have tried to have a relationship with a human – it just would raise too many questions in the future, even though, if he were honest, he could have fallen in love with her, under other circumstances.

All of them had put their arm into the tiny computerized box, and they were each jabbed and felt the machine at work, searching, analyzing and concluding. Sam was the last one to go. He and Jesse stared at each other, the entire time. Jesse understood Sam's position. He didn't expect all allies to be willing to go above and beyond and die. But, he had practically worshipped Sam and the fact that Mercedes had all but shown her approval of the man made Jesse feel even better about his decisions to follow Sam and work for and with him. Now, as the test confirmed Sam Evans' humanity, and Will, Sue and Finn all looked at each other, obviously disappointed, Sam removed his arm from the thing and asked the doctors, "How do you know that it really works, though? What if we start testing this thing on others, citizens and it is not actually functional? What if we target innocent human beings?"

"What's the difference in that and targeting innocent Starchildren?" Kurt asked him.

"They really talk entirely too much," Director Sylvester said.

"To answer your question, the difference is that human beings are the dominating species on this planet… so they get to make the rules, no matter how unfair they are," Jesse said.

"You decided to come here," Dr. Schuester reminded them.

Jesse said, "You know, I can't really remember what happened, but from how I read the events in the news, seems like we crashed here." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Sightgift and Chameleot are out there and I have no idea what they have planned. But, if I know them, the transition of making Starchildren the dominating species on this planet is probably involved. Your best option is to let me go, so that I get try to contact them and stop them from whatever it is that they are planning."

Will smirked and walked up to Jesse. He got right in his face and asked him, "Do you think that we're stupid?"

"In comparison to us, yes, but completely and utterly, no – I wouldn't say that. Some of you are actually really okay," Jesse answered.

"Everything about you has been a lie, hasn't it?" Will asked. "You even talk differently. You never had this much confidence during your act."

"Well, being human is nothing to be that confident about," Jesse said, "But, I was only trying to show you that we can be meek. I always intended to come out and show everyone that we exist out there and that we don't deserve what happens to us at S.T.A.R.S. I simply didn't have the chance to get to that point."

"If we were to let you go, you would assemble with your rebel friends and you have inside information on us. You know so much and I'll bet that you've been playing Dr. Evans and I against each other, too."

"I didn't have to. You try to undermine everything that Sam does. You just had no idea that we'd be willing to help him to know it. I never had to tell him a thing." He involuntarily threw a glance at Mercedes, as she sat, bound and gagged, as usual. Jesse blinked and backed up from Will, "You really shouldn't stand so close to me when you have no idea what I can do."

"Soon enough, we'll find out a way to put that to the test as well," Will threatened, then ordered the guards, "Take them back to their cells." As the guards collected them, Sam watched Mercedes and Jesse. Jesse touched her arm, gently and gave her a sympathetic grin. She heard Sam think _Take care of him, in here, Mercedes._

_Trust me, I'll do a better job at that than you ever would have, _she replied, then shut him off.


	5. Further Developments

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**Further Developments**

**Rachel:**

"Dr. Evans, I was wondering if I might have a word with you?" Sam heard Rachel Berry ask as he attempted to actually go home for the night – something that he had not done in quite a bit of time.

"Of course, Dr. Berry. What can I help you with?" He replied, as he collected the work that he intended to bring home with him.

"In the mating cocktails, isn't there a fertilization serum involved?" She asked.

"Dr. Berry, the fact that you were willing to inject a subject with something which was an unknown substance to you disturbs me and drives me to forbid you to assist me with anything in my lab," Sam said, then answered, "Yes, there is. We designed it to match the colors of the rainbow – in old myths – the rainbow was a sign of promise and a child born of these people would be a sign of promise for many things. We matched the colors with the function of the serum. The red serum relaxes the subject. The orange opens their pores, for the release of their bodies' pheromones. The yellow is to yield more pheromones, so that their partner is more susceptible to mating with them. The green is to generate hormones inside of the body that likewise makes the subject _want _their partner. The indigo is for inhibitions – or lowering them, at least. That's why sometimes after a mating session, you'll see evidence of the abilities having been manifested all over the room. Take Puck for instance, there were all types of substances all over his cell after his session with Quinn. They aren't lowered so much that they can't do anything, but it gives them less willpower to try to fight the other serums in their bloodstreams. The violet is for the fertility. Initially, we didn't have a serum that could cater to the female in that department, so the violet stood for virility and was only administered to the males. Of course, you realize that Dr. Hudson helped to perfect a female equivalent, as he is your fiancé."

Rachel took a deep breath and asked, "Even though the Starchild calling itself Jesse had no serum in his system, is it possible that the serum in my system at the time would have been an adequate amount to result in a pregnancy? Is it even possible for a pregnancy between a human being and one of these life forms?"

Sam sighed and halted. He looked at Rachel, seriously and told her, "It is very possible that people like them and people like us can reproduce. I've studied the subject, however in my studies, roles were reversed, and I'm not sure of the ability of a human body to carry one of those children."

"But… One of their bodies _could_? Would it be possible to transfer a fetus from a human body and into a Starchild's body?" She asked.

"Rachel – are you pregnant?" He asked, flat out.

"Well, there hasn't been enough time to…" She started, but he cut her off.

"After mating, the pregnancy status of one of them can be detected as early as within twenty-four hours. Quinn has a successful conception. I'm not sure how long it would take to be able to detect a pregnancy in a human body, but you should be tested, for safety purposes."

"Have there been any successful breeding attempts?" Rachel asked, concerned.

He looked away from her, sadly. "Not yet," he answered.

"Then, why do we keep trying? What makes any of us think that we have the right to force something like this on someone?" She asked, with tears welling in her eyes.

"I think that Jesse said it best when he said that the dominating species makes up the rules – no matter how unfair they are," Sam replied, forcing himself to face her again.

"No matter how unfair or _unnecessary?_" Rachel asked. "Dr. Evans, perhaps if I understood the purpose of attempting to force these life forms to mate and reproduce…"

"I need to prove that they aren't monsters!" He snapped at her. He pinched the bridge of his nose and explained, "They have all of these abilities, so humans are afraid of them. The fact that they look just like humans can't be coincidental – so either they are humanoid life forms, which means that some place in the universe, we're all related…" he looked up and said, "Or it means that they purposefully disguised themselves as humans to blend in. And if that's true – everyone needs to figure out why." Sam folded his arms and told her, "They seem to have emotions and respond in an emotional way to things. They seem to have bodily functions and bodily fluids – they need to eat, drink, sleep – most of them. But, they never seem to need to use the bathroom to dispose of waste. They never seem to have to wash up, unless they've been covered with something."

"If they don't produce waste, what do they do with what they eat and drink?" She wondered.

"They convert it to energy and grow stronger and more capable," he said.

"And that's why they are rationed small amounts of nourishment," she said and shook her head, "I simply presumed it was because they _required_ less food." Her eyes were brimming with tears, by now, "If there is a life growing inside of me… I dread to think of people taking him or her and locking them up, starving them, running tests and forcing them to mate…"

"I dread doing it, Dr. Berry. Now, perhaps you understand why it is that I never sleep," he said and began to leave. Rachel followed him. She didn't particularly want to walk to her car alone.

"We covered that the mating sessions have previously been unsuccessful. What has happened with failures, in the past?" She asked.

"Thus far, minimal deaths of the female… Most of the time, it's been miscarriages and hormonal repositioning. The female has a miscarriage and begins a menstrual cycle that she previously had not been having."

"And, are they reintroduced into the breeding program after having a regular menstrual cycle?" She wondered. Sam couldn't blame her for not knowing much about her job. Most scientists were secretive about their work, even hiding it from lower positioned colleagues. In fact, probably only he and Jesse shared information.

"One has. Quinn, and hopefully, this time, it proves successful," he said. "The first time, the program was done by artificial insemination. There were minimal conceptions. Quinn was one of the few to be impregnated through that process. While the mating program is harsh, it is far more effective in the area of actual pregnancies than planting them ever was." He sighed and paused at Rachel's car. "Take a test and if you get positive results…"

"I am not open for suggestions on what I should do in that event, Dr. Evans," Rachel quickly informed him. "Thank you for speaking with me. Dr. Schuester refuses to and even Dr. Hudson hides things. He thinks that he's being covert – but I can tell that he's being dishonest with me when I try to seek information, especially since this situation with the Starchild that calls itself Jesse."

"Well, he may be one of them, but trust me – he's a good person. He's always treated you with the utmost respect," Sam said.

"If you think so highly of him, why did you turn him in?" She asked.

"I didn't _turn him in. _I followed the protocol that I would have for a human in the same position. You had been possibly assaulted. It was my duty to make sure that he was apprehended and investigated. His friends on the outside are the ones who made his identity known when they began to protest. They _assumed _that he had been found out. I never would have done that to him," Sam admitted.

"You… you really don't look at them the way that the other doctors do. You truly care about them," she said, then smiled softly and said, "Well, you care about everybody." He didn't reply or react. "I'm sorry, Dr. Evans. You can care about everybody, but you can't _help_ everybody. With things of this nature, there are already sides and straddling between the two will tear you in half. You have to pick one," she said. With that, the young woman got into her car and rolled down her window, "Tomorrow, I will present to you proper notification of my intentions to resign from working at the center," she told him and left for the night.eHeH

Rachel sighed and touched her womb. She didn't _have_ to take a test. There had been so many weird things going on with her body that she knew that something must be inside of her – and it had to be something that was not like her. For one thing… it was like she could _feel _it. Not like feel it moving around or anything, but like there was some type of mental or sensory connection that she shared with it. This night proved to be the weirdest time ever, because, while she was thinking and tired and driving, she hardly gave herself the chance to pay attention to the vehicle that was running the red light while she was about to intersect her green.

The large truck headed right for her and when she glanced up, she saw it coming, then suddenly swerve to miss her. She groaned and held her abdomen, in extreme pain, as this happened and as the vehicle twisted turned and somehow ended up on the road, relatively unharmed, the driver got out and rushed over to her, apologizing and frightened. "That was a miracle! I didn't even have control of the truck. It was like somebody else was controlling it and made sure that neither one of us got hurt! Oh my God! I am so sorry! Are you alright? Are you…" Rachel drove off, no longer in pain, but feeling extremely eerie.

She stroked her hand across the skin of her tummy and asked, "Did… did you?" She shook her head. It wasn't even formed yet. It couldn't have… but what the hell did she know about Starchildren in the womb… aside from the fact that she definitely had one?

**Brittany and Santana:**

She heard something move quickly around her and vaguely saw this flash of red dash by her. _Oh no, Santana was going to get her in trouble again… _"Santana, I know that you're here, so please don't get me into any trouble today." She announced, picking at the sides of her white jumpsuit. The other woman came into view and smiled at her. "Hey, Santana… red jumpsuits aren't allowed in here," she said.

"Neither are cats," Santana reminded her and propped herself on a counter top.

Brittany winced and asked, "How did you know that Lord Tubbington was here?"

"Easy – I'm the only one who he can't move fast enough to hide from. You really need to talk to Dr. Evans about this cat. Hiding it is a bad idea and if they find him, they are going to put him to sleep," Santana warned.

"Dr. Evans is nice. He smiles," Brittany said. "But, he's not here, yet. He actually went home, last night."

"What about Mindwhisper?" Santana asked, concerned.

"Something happened. I don't know what. But today, we all have to be rounded up and taken to a place for some kind of test. I'm scared, because I never do well at tests. I just don't have any healthy study habits," she said and continued to clean up the lab. Santana stole her mop and set it aside.

"Call the cat and let's find Dr. Evans," Santana said. Brittany followed the instruction and picked up the very large cat. They found Sam in his lab, setting things up and Santana called from the door, "Dr. Evans?" He turned suddenly and folded his arms. "There was a new orderly and I made a dash for it, as soon as he opened my cell," she admitted. "I just wanted to go for a quick run around the yard."

"You _ask _to go for runs around the yard, Santana," he said.

"I've asked. You keep denying me," she said.

"Because we haven't the time to properly escort you," he said.

"Well, I have all the time in the world to escort myself, so I did." She said, then held her hand out to Brittany and her fat cat. "Brittany has to ask you about something."

"I noticed the cat and I was simply waiting on one of you to explain it," Sam said.

"He's my friend. We met a short time ago and he's been living with me in secret, but I know that you can get an approval on me having him here," Brittany said.

"None of you are allowed to have pets," Sam reminded her.

"He isn't a pet, Dr. Evans. He helps me with my thingie," she said. Sam, instead of asking Brittany to explain, looked at Santana.

Santana said, "Brittany can talk to cats. She can even do stuff that cats do. She's something like a cat, but in like humanoid form."

Brittany said, "I'm not like a cat. I just selected a cat. I can communicate with animals. I made friends with a really nice mouse last year. We talked for a good three months, then he accidentally walked into a trap. It was really sad. Dr. St. James gave me a flower."

"I thought that you were a dormant," Sam said.

"A doormat? No… I sometimes let people do and say things to me that aren't nice, but I'm not smart enough to know until later when I've thought about it or somebody tells me," Brittany said.

"How does the power work, Brittany?" Sam asked.

"We turned on the switch and the lights come on," she said. "Is this part of the test that I heard about, because I'm not prepared and I'm not good at science."

Santana chimed in with, "She talks to an animal and connects with it somekind of way, then she can do what that animal does, right Britt?"

"No. I can't do what they do. That was a mouse. I can't fit into a small hole in the wall."

"But you could, say, walk up the wall?" Sam asked, as exhausted as he ever was when dealing with Brittany. Brittany was one of Jesse's subjects and selected as a trustee because she was too mentally undeveloped to pose a threat. They didn't even think that she had a power. However, Sam always believed that she had one, dormant and it was waiting to be activated and that with it, her intelligence might be activated, too. No. Such, Luck. She was one that must have landed on her head when they fell out of the sky.

"Walk up the wall?" Brittany repeated.

"Yes," Sam confirmed.

"Yes what? I'm confused. I thought that I was supposed to say, 'walk up the wall.'"

Sam rushed over to remove the cat from her arms and said, "Walk up the wall, Brittany, and you can keep the cat."

Brittany went up to the wall and studied it. "I don't think that this wall was made for me to climb…" She said, then, arched her back and few times, leaped up and sank her fingernails into the ceiling, as she struggled with her feet to keep them steady on the ceiling. "This is hard with shoes on," she confessed.

"You can come down," Sam told her and when she did, she landed on her feet. "You are like a cat," he said.

"Not just a cat, Dr. Evans. She does this with other animals, too," Santana said. "Dr. Evans, I want to talk to you about becoming a trustee."

"You can't," he told her.

"It isn't fair. I have super speed. How is that a dangerous ability?" She wondered, folding her arms, upset.

"If you wanted to take something and leave, you easily could and if someone tried to stop you, they would not be able to catch you. I know that you're not going to do that, but Director Sylvester has already blacklisted your ability… and you will most likely lose your white jumpsuit now, too – Brittany." Santana dashed out of the lab and Brittany accepted her cat back. "Report to your cell. That is where your cat will be kept and I'll have to confine you until we verify from Cyclops that you can be about and about."

"This is why I didn't want to talk to you, but Santana insisted. She said that I had to tell you about Lord Tubbington and now, I totally regret it," Brittany said, making her way back to her cell. _Yeah, disappointment is on the menu for all of you, today, _Sam thought. He called for his choice trustees – Blaine and Joe, to his lab. When they arrived he told them, "Santana is in the building somewhere. I need the two of you to find her and talk some sense into her before she gets herself hurt. The director and the government are up in arms, right now and her disobedience will not end well."

Blaine nodded and shut his eyes, _Mindwhisper.. are you listening? Mindwhisper?_

_Lifeline… _she replied.

_Fleet is in the building, escaped from her cell and in possible danger…_

_No, no – I've handled that. Both she AND Femme Feral are going back into their cells as of this moment._

Blaine opened his eyes and said, "Mind…Cedes has already taken care of this problem." He placed his hands behind his back and Sam sighed, unsure if he was alarmed or relieved about it. She now seemed to be listening for her friends' activities constantly. He wondered if she was resting. He wondered if her power was increasing and if so, if her memory was returning.

"All of the residents need to be led out of their cells and herded to the courtyard, to The Graeae. Get together with the other trustees and organize this migration, with the exception of the most dangerous list, and Brittany."

"Why Brittany?" Joe wondered. Sam forced a smile and Joe looked at the ground and said, "I'm sorry, Dr. Evans. I didn't mean to question you. It's just – Brittany's a trustee. She doesn't even have a detectable ability."

"It was detected today, and she may very well be added to the mist dangerous list," Sam said. Joe and Blaine nodded and left the lab. "If you come across Sugar, Blaine – please – incapacitate her." Blaine nodded once, and as he and Joe left, he asked Mindwhisper, _If I see Sugar, what should I do?_

_Leave her be, as I've told you before… but I don't suppose that you'll be seeing much of Sugar. I don't suppose that at all, _she answered.

Mercedes had been rested against the wall of her cell for hours, simply listening to as many thoughts of her people as she could without getting them jumbled, while simultaneously thinking about an image that had been placed into her mind. Hanging up somewhere, was a large mural that one of the free ones made of Mercedes… but she looked different in it. She had long, dazzling hair that cascaded behind her. There were diamonds in her eyes and her skin shimmered, like glitter was ingrained in it. She was seated on a glistening throne and there was starlight in her smile. At her feet were others, bowed down, wearing sparkling garments, the likes of which human eyes may not even be able to look upon. She was unsure if that had been planted in her mind purposefully, or not… But she wanted to know who the hell in the outside world might have made it – because how the hell did they know what she looked like?

She had been listening to Starchildren thoughts since she first picked up the image. Someone would have to eventually mention or discover something that could help her know the significance of this work!


	6. And Now For Something Completely Diff

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**And Now, For Something Completely Different**

**Noah:**

_ Mercedes had her hair in two little afro puffs. Quinn had her hair in a quaint headband, hanging loosely down her back. Noah was seated right in front of them, leaning back with his arms folded, not very interested in anything going on in class, when it began to happen. Professor Thibideaux was in the middle of a lesson, when Noah went to wipe his runny nose on the back of his arm and saw something blackish red on his white sleeve. He raised his hand and said, "Nanny Thibideaux, I got a nose bleed." The woman was coming towards him, to tend to him when all of a sudden, Artie fell out of his seat and landed face first on the floor. _

"_Artie!" She called and went to rush, until she saw Santana fall backwards and pass out on the floor. "Goodness!" The woman said. "Noah, stay where you are. Everyone else, come to me…" But. As the children tried to move forward, as they got closer to Noah, they began to fall. "Oh! No… just… get away from Noah. Don't pass him." Noah backed away from the other children and moved closer towards the walls, crying. Children began to cough and cover their faces. Noah backed himself into a corner, slid to the floor, and buried his face in his arms. The other children ran to Professor Thibideaux, who was coughing herself and she tried to get them out of the room._

"_Whoa – where are you going?" Professor Stanley asked. "Where are you taking them?"_

"_We have to get out of this room. Something is happening to Noah and children are falling unconscious," she explained. Professor Stanley shoved the children into the room and shut it. "Hey – you can't keep them in there. We don't know if what's happening is fatal!"_

"_No, we don't. Which is precisely why we can't allow them to go any further. We may be doomed, but let's not endanger the rest of the world or the rest of the center," he said, as he pulled out his phone, "Yes, this is Professor Dakota Stanley, one of the instructors of the children from the sky. There is a quarantine issue. It's possible that Professor Carmen Thibideaux and I have been contaminated, but we've isolated the children. No, it isn't all of them. It's only about twenty." He chuckled and said, "Well, hopefully whatever it is isn't dangerous to humans, but the kids are passing out, and I'm not close enough to know if it's a virus, or anything…"_

_Miss Thibideaux heard the children calling out to her and she couldn't resist. She went back inside and allowed them to hold onto her, afraid, and many of them crying as they coughed or fell unconscious. Suddenly, she saw two of her boys, holding each other's hands and running towards Noah. "Kurt! Blaine! Don't!" She called. But they didn't listen._

_Kurt placed his hands on Noah's shoulders and said, "Don't be afraid. We're special, too. You aren't alone. Stop crying." He transmitted feelings of happiness into Noah, and the tears stopped. _

_Blaine reached out and said, "I can fix your nosebleed." He touched Noah's nose with a hand and the bleeding stopped. _

_Professor Thibideaux watched in awe and thought to herself, _These children… they… They really are different.

_Mercedes, cuffed into the woman's side looked up at her with big doe eyes and said, mentally, _Please don't tell on us, Miss Thibideaux. We don't want to be in trouble. We don't want to hurt anybody. We can't help being different. _The woman looked down at her and gasped. Was that telepathy? That was really real? "Mercedes, as long as Miss Thibideaux is here, nothing bad is going to happen to any of you," the woman promised and held her closely._

_But, Miss Thibideaux didn't have to say anything. Professor Stanley had seen enough through the window and when the containment team came through, he gave a detailed testimony, lacking only the dialogue that took place. The quarantine team took Noah. Quinn and Mercedes both yelled, "NO!" Mercedes covered her mouth with her hands and Quinn tugged on one of the men and said, "Leave. Him. Alone." The man unhanded Noah and the boy began to run. A few of the others gave chase and one of them finally caught Noah, while the other children had chased to watch. When he caught Noah, Noah began scream and try to wriggle away from him._

_ He didn't mean to – he was just so afraid! A large spike-like object came out of each hand and stabbed the man, through his safety suit. The children gasped and Noah held in his hands two solid objects… the weapons. He sobbed and dropped them. He looked at the others. "Mercedes…" He whimpered._

"_Don't run anymore Noah, just don't!" She cried. Quinn was covering her eyes, now and crying hard tears. Artie and Santana were coming to, as they were being carried away for testing. Miss Thibideaux tried to calm the others down as the men took Noah away. _

_Quinn and Mercedes reached for each other's hands and Emma shook her head, sadly. "I saw this happen, already," she said, crying._

"_What happened after this?" Quinn wondered._

"_Bad stuff. Nothing but bad stuff," Emma told them and rushed to bury her face in Miss Thibideaux's bosom. All of the children were tested, as was the air, the murder weapons, and the blood and tears collected from Noah's clothing and face. Noah was put into solitary, and only let out if he was drugged. Sometimes, Mercedes and Quinn would see him, being escorted somewhere, probably to Dr. Dwight Evans' lab for further testing. He always looked so tired and alone._

_ Miss Thibideaux tried to keep her word. She even visited Noah, outside of his solitary cell everyday to make sure that he got the same lessons that the other children were receiving. Soon, however, Dwight Evans put a stop to it. "I'm sorry, Carmen – I know that when you look at these creatures, you see children, but Noah proved perfectly what Dr. Schuester and I have been saying all along – that they are not. Noah killed a man with stones that came out of his body! He suffocated his classmates with a nosebleed and choked them with his tears. He is dangerous, and we have no way of knowing that the others aren't dangerous too." _

"_He had a nosebleed! Unfortunately, there is something inside of him that the rest of us can't take, but that's not his fault. Why don't you try to figure out if you can help him, instead of trying to see how you can use this to your advantage?"_

"_To __**our**__ advantage, Carm. These creatures weren't sent here to look like us and play nice. The fact that he can do something like that is a sign that they are a threat and probably on a hostile mission!" he fussed. "We have more studying to do. There are others, with very different powers. Blaine made his nosebleed stop. I'm still not sure how Kurt made him stop crying, but it was probably some type of alien manipulation, as well. If Noah is never allowed to see another human being but me for the rest of his life, it will not hurt my feelings, one bit, as long as everyone is safe from him. We're trying to find a cure for what he does. If we can find something to stop either him from doing it or it from affecting us, I'll let him back into Gen Pop."_

_She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "You mean, if you can find a way to use what he can't control for your benefit."_

"_**Our**__ benefit. This is for all of humanity, Carmen. It is bigger than any facility or any doctor." He turned away and observed Noah in his cell, pacing, anxiously. The child would do this sometimes, for hours straight. He was going to live a very lonely life inside of that cell._

Noah used the tip of the needle from his hand to draw himself another tattoo, which he used his own blood for. It was such a cool trick, to him. He missed when Miss Thibideaux used to come by and make sure that he got movies and books. He had a television and movie player and several comics. He missed her so much. She reminded him of the moms in the movies that he would watch – taking care of children and fighting for people to treat them right. Besides Mindwhisper, she was the only woman that he knew like that. The door of his cell opened and he glanced up at it, shocked. When Dr. Evans peeked in, Noah stood, quickly and opened his palms, allowing two palm sized rocks to emerge from them.

"You can calm down, Puck. Leave those things here. You're being invited to my lab today, if you can behave. I'll have to ask you to take a little pill to calm you down, but nothing to knock you out." Sam said. Noah dropped the stones (or the pucks), and cautiously walked to Dr. Evans.

He stopped, directly in front of him and said, "Evans, if you try anything on me, I think that my fumes are quicker than yours."

"I know that they are. That's why I wouldn't try anything," Sam said and had the nerve to turn his back and walk away from Noah! Noah wanted to hit him in the back of the head, simply for being so bold… But, then he wouldn't get to learn what this bullsh*t invitation was for.

**Artie:**

Mercedes rested in Sam's lab, shocked that he had gathered the infamous "most dangerous" in one area. She had not seen many of them face to face in quite some time. Now, as she sat with Quinn, Puck, Santana and Artie, she sighed.

"Mercedes, you seem alert," Sam observed.

"Artie does, too," she said.

"Artie has the power of regeneration. If he is given a drug or gassed, it doesn't affect him, because the parts of his brain, that are supposed to shut down, regenerate. Why aren't _you _unconscious or even dazed?" He asked.

"I'm not a scientist, Dr. Evans, you are," she sassed. Artie snickered.

_Mercedes, I hope that you know what these changes that you appear to be going through may mean for you. This is no laughing matter. What did you do to Director Sylvester the day that you attacked her? She put on the record that the three of you were connected and that the three of you attacked her, but I know that Blaine nor Kurt would have actually harmed her. Did you do something to make her think that she was being attacked by the three of you? Can you project falsified realities into someone's mind with your telepathy? _Sam wondered.

"Yes, I believe that I can… but I didn't do that. You've been trying to get me to connect my mind with others like me so that we could possibly connect our powers for months. You dedicate exercises to it. Why are you so surprised that it happened?" She wondered, not ashamed to speak in front of her brethren.

"You weren't connected with them when you did it," he said. "Just like you aren't connected with Artie, right now!" Sam snapped at her. "In fact, I don't think that you and Artie have been in contact in years. Artie – your memory is in full tact. You tell me how true that statement is."

"Haven't seen her since we found out what my ability is, Dr. Evans." Artie said. He shivered, thinking about the terrible explosion in the lab. It was a _miracle _that Mercedes had survived, though she didn't come out unharmed. She'd lost all of her memory, and she didn't seem to be getting it back. Artie had been severely injured, and confined to a wheelchair for several weeks, but not dead. April, Shelby, and Emma had been blinded… Artie shivered again. Soon after, they saw that he had recovered from what would have been permanent damage on a human.

Around the time that the scientists were maiming them, hoping to make their powers stronger, like The Graeae, Artie found his blood being tested, then drained, then harvested – for them to try to use for multiple "humane" purposes. Then, his regeneration ability was tested. Of course, to test regeneration, there would be blood. Artie had been virtually tortured and his healing time and strength had been monitored and over time and necessity had improved. The bad thing was that being able to regenerate did not make him invincible. He felt that torture. He felt it all. He thought that if his brain wasn't capable of regenerating that he would surely go insane.

"Artie, if she has her straw in your milkshake, will that help her brain to regenerate and her to get her memories back?" Sam asked, looking at Mercedes, intently. She looked at him, curiously. _What the hell was it that he wanted so desperately for her to remember?_

"I can't say how it works for a pilferer, Doc. I only know how it works for me and the brain is one thing that it takes a while to heal. When I was set on fire and burned alive, my body formed back into its original shape probably weeks before I remembered anything. That was an awkward few weeks – having limbs chopped off, being drowned, and sawed in half – not knowing why the hell or anything else, for that matter." Artie complained, bitterly. Mercedes glared at Sam. He was still looking at her intently, like he had not even noticed the look she was giving him, like he had not heard a thing that Artie had said, or like he didn't care enough to listen to him or to notice her disgust.

"The important thing to think about here, Dr. Evans is the fact that I seem to be growing in power… which I guess means that I'm becoming more dangerous. So, I suggest that all of these new reforms that Director Sylvester is about to try to do whatever it is that she thinks she's going to do to us stop before they start," Mercedes warned.

"Director Sylvester doesn't answer to you, Mercedes," Sam told her.

"My name is Mindwhisper," she said and raised an eyebrow that seemed to dare him to challenge her declaration, "And _everyone _will answer to me." Sam smirked at her and folded his hands across each other. She narrowed her eyes at him and reached over to touch Quinn. But, Quinn's skin was covered pretty well. Quinn's feet were tapping, nervously and Mercedes knew why – Quinn was pregnant, and worried. They didn't know if their babies took 9 months to develop, or shorter. They didn't know these humans' intentions for the child at hand. Quinn didn't even know if this pregnancy would be successful… and she had been given something to "calm her down." She didn't know if that would affect her baby or not.

Sam said, "I want to do all of you a favor. I want to try to integrate you with the others."

"Director Sylvester would never agree to allowing us to go back to gen pop," Artie said, incredulously.

"She would and she did," Sam said.

"No," Mercedes said. "Puck, Quinn, Santana, Artie and I will agree to live together, but we are not going to go out into that cesspool with all of the others that probably think that we're the ones to challenge if they want to gain power. This is a prison, Dr. Evans and the prisoners have prison mentality."

"Brittany," Santana said, drearily. "Brittany should live with us, too."

"Absolutely not," Sam said to Mercedes, not even acknowledging Santana. "You all get roommates – white suits to help you stay in order. I've presented the information to the Director and she is willing to allow it if you all are willing to participate."

"In what?" Noah asked, annoyed, and dreary from the pills that he had taken to help keep his ability sedated, momentarily.

Sam sighed and said, "We have a lot of tests that we have to perform. Many of the Starchildren aren't going to want to do it. But one of you has the power to sedate an entire room," Sam said looking at him, "and one of you has the power to speak commandments into action," he said looking at Quinn. "One of you can't die," he said looking at Artie, "And one of you knows what everyone is thinking," he said, with his eyes on Mercedes.

"And one of us can move really fast," Santana said, shrugging off her power that didn't seem to be helpful in this thing.

But, he surprised her by saying, "Exactly! We can teach you how the sample needs to be taken and you can do what it might take us all day to do within moments."

_**You must be out your goddamned mind,**_Mercedes sent him the mental message, in a voice composed of all of the Starchildren present in unison. Then she told him, "We aren't going to put our people through that to make your job easier!"

"You took the test, Mercedes. You know that it isn't that bad. We take some saliva, some blood, some skin cells and put them into a machine that virtually does all of the work. Besides, you get to test the staff, first. All of the staff is going to be tested to make sure that there are no more SIDs hiding in the facility.

"Once again, why would we want to do that? Dr. St. James was one of the best doctors that this facility has ever had," Mercedes commented.

"What about Dr. St. James?" Puck asked.

"He's one of us," she said, "And Dr. Evans knew and let him get caught. Now, they're paranoid and have the audacity to think that we want to help them find out and imprison more of us!"

"Do you really think that most SIDs are concerned about** your **plight, Mercedes?" Sam asked, "Because they aren't! Most SIDs are concerned with staying in disguise! There are a select few, very few that actually care enough about you to try to help or protect you. So, why are you trying to protect them?" He wondered. She frowned at him.

Sam looked at Quinn, "Do you really want to spend the next 9 months in a cell alone, or would you like to maybe have lunch with Puck and talk about how ultrasounds went?" Quinn and Puck looked at each other. Sam looked at Santana and asked, "Don't you want to be allotted some yard time, so you don't have to wait for the off chance that a rookie is scheduled to tend to something in your cell so that you can run out?" He looked at Artie, "Don't you want to be finally able to be allowed out of that cell. And don't _you, _for that matter?" He asked Mercedes.

"I do," Puck said, sadly.

"Puck…" Mercedes said.

"You've only been there for the past few years, Whisper. I've been there since we were six. I've only been allowed to gather with one person at a time for damned near twenty years, and generally with drugs in my system. I would like to meet people and talk and stuff, like in the movies." Mercedes' lip quivered. Her old friend deserved that. She sometimes had mental messages with him (with all of the ones that were locked away), and she really believed that he should have the chance to live… whatever the best life was for them in a place like this.

Quinn stared at Mercedes, her mouth still covered, but she told her _I don't want to spend my entire pregnancy shackled and gagged. _

"I'm in," Santana said with a shrug.

"It's not a draft," Sam said. "Director Sylvester is only taking you on if it is a team and if you all agree to use your abilities to administer the tests."

"So, if I am blatantly and morally against this, and I alone refuse, you are going to send the rest of them back into solo cells, too?" Mercedes thundered.

"I'll have to," Sam said.

The others looked at Mercedes and Sam watched her, with the wheels spinning. She was probably perusing thoughts all over the building, to help her to make her decision. She thought about the portrait of herself and decided that maybe if she was out of her cell, she might have more opportunities to learn about it. She was rationalizing. She hated to make a deal like this, but the looks on the faces of her friends who had been lonely and restricted for so long… "Then, I guess that I have no choice but to agree," she said, miserably. Kurt, Blaine, Joe, and Brittany entered the lab as Sam stood up.

"Couldn't find Sugar?" He asked.

Out of nowhere, Sugar appeared, laughing. Sam jumped, a bit and she cheered. "Yes! God – I thought it was going to take the REST OF MY LIFE to catch you off guard. You're good, Dr. Evans. Very good," she said and patted him on the back.

"Why are you wearing a white jumpsuit?" He wondered.

"I am _always _wearing a white jumpsuit," she told him.

"Your ability is threatening. You are supposed to be in a red jumpsuit," he said.

"Well, if your senses can't register me and I take white jumpsuits and throw my red jumpsuits in the incinerator, it will probably save the company money to just let me wear this white jumpsuit… that I'm _always _wearing." He smirked at her.

"I knew that you were. What do you think your purpose is here today?" He asked. "You are going to bunk with Mercedes and show her the ropes around gen pop." Sugar smiled and clapped her hands. "Brittany, since you have not been removed from your position of trustee, you can take Santana. Blaine, you can take Quinn, Kurt, you can take Puck and Joe is going to take Artie."

"Wait, why is Blaine bunking with Quinn?" Noah asked, annoyed.

"Because Quinn's body is in a fragile state and Blaine's ability may be helpful for her when other things are not easily accessible," Sam said. Quinn nodded at Noah, indicating that this was a good thing, but he still glared at Sam. He didn't trust him. He didn't like him, and this deal was shady as hell… but it meant having some semblance of freedom and that cell had been a cold place for him.

Sam went on to say, "And Puck – if you have any type of uncontrolled outbursts, Kurt should be able to help you with balancing your emotions."

Mercedes asked, "And why am I with Sugar?"

Sam sighed and folded his arms. _Because she can make you undetectable, if there's any danger… I don't want anything to happen to you._

She folded her arms too. _Just what I need, more favoritism, at a time where all of our brethren will be already leery of us. What about Jesse? Are you going to just leave him in his cell, alone, while the rest of us will be together, he will be the lone Starchild who continues to be left out?_

_Jesse will be situated no sooner than Director Sylvester learns what he can do – until then, he continues to be a possible threat… _Sam sighed, frustrated, as he went to remove the chains from her wrists and ankles. They continued with their silent exchange while he also showed the same courtesy to Quinn.

"Are they straight up having a conversation right in front of us?" Santana asked, rhetorically. Everyone else knew that there were mental exchanges between Dr. Evans and Mindwhisper. But, they were determined to stay out of it, from both of their expressions, it wasn't going well for either of them. "Interspecies lovers' quarrel," Santana commented. That paused their thoughts and silenced everyone. Now, the others stared at Santana and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"You're all dismissed," Dr. Evans said, and went to his desk. They stood there a while, unsure of what to do. Were they supposed to just leave his lab and just walk to where the other Starchildren were? "Dr. Schuester and Director Sylvester will meet you at the entrance of the Starchildren general population wing. Trustees – you know where that is. All of you will be given further instructions, then." He started his computer, and didn't turn to face them, again.

_Director Sylvester is trying to pull us apart. She is going to have Starchildren wanting to kill Starchildren if you go through with this. Can you live with that, Sam? Because, if you can, you are not at all the person that I believed you to be. _He looked up at Mercedes, sadly and she could see the wrinkles that all of this was putting in his face. He was far too young to look so weathered, but maybe, she was being unfair. Maybe, he had about as much control over any of this as she did. At least, he tried. "When we're finished with the tests, when they've used us up, are we going to be put back into little boxes?" She asked him, out loud.

"I. Don't. Know." He said, exhausted by her. _I want you to be free. Even if it's limited. Even if it's temporary. _

Sugar took one of Mercedes' hands and began to walk with her. The others followed along. Sam watched them leave, with Mercedes' head facing him, the two locked in eye contact, the entire departure, though saying nothing. When they were out of sight, he let out the breath he had been holding.


	7. It Is All a Test

_I so apologize to all of y'all. Y'all know that normally, I would've had so many updates completed by now. But, I recently switched department at work, learning new stuff, working strange hours and keeping up with my younger sister while my folks are out of town. I've wanted to update everything, but real life, y'all know..._

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**It Is All a Test**

**Sugar: **

_Not gonna lie – you can't convince me that I'm not the most important person ALIVE! For one thing – I have managed to leave and enter this facility more times than I can remember. For another, I can do what I want, when I want, in this facility. But, all of those things really don't amount to much, because at the end of the day – they're all stuck here. I could probably let open the cells and bust open the gates, but when the others run out, they'd probably be eliminated on sight. They aren't like me. They can't make themselves undetectable by the senses._

_ It began when I was little. When things looked like they were about to get bad – I would want to disappear, and as far as mostly everyone was concerned, I did. They couldn't see me. But, they could hear me, if I couldn't make myself quiet enough. A few years later, I mastered making them unable to do that, too. That was when they would get the guard dogs to sniff me out. One of those suckers bit me! I still have the scar on the back of my thigh! So, after a few months, that sense had to be taken away from other too. I have pretty much mastered them all… except for probably the most important – touch! But, hey, I'm working on that!_

_ But the thing that makes me the most important person alive – the thing that I have that no one else does – I know everyone's secret. _Sugar smiled to herself as she woke up and looked over at Mercedes, who was simply staring out at nothing. The woman had her hands in the position that they had been bound, and was seated upright. She turned to look at Sugar. "I can't hear your thoughts," she said.

"I know you can't," Sugar told her. "Let it be incentive for you to hone your gift, _Your Majesty._" Sugar answered and giggled. Mercedes frowned and sent her a message, _I'm probably the most powerful one out of all of us. I don't know if it's wise to test me._

_There is one more powerful than you, but yes – you can best me. It'll take work, but I have faith in you that your power can combat against my power to not be heard. _"You're just gonna have to push it to the limits," Sugar said with a smile and vanished to get ready to start her day in privacy.

Quinn. Sugar, Blaine and Mercedes sat together at their new lunch table. As soon as they arrived in the cafeteria, all eyes were on them. Sugar sighed and became invisible. She didn't know if she liked such attention. That sort of back-fired the rest came to the table and Joe sat right on top of her. She reappeared with an, "Ow!" He jumped up and blushed.

"I'm sorry, Sugar!" He said, with a smile and took the seat beside her. Santana and Brittany eventually joined them, too. As Mercedes, Sugar, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Puck, Blaine, Kurt, Joe, and Artie sat there, Mercedes watched the rest of the room. Everyone was looking at them. Everyone.

Puck broke the silence with, "I've just noticed – our red jumpsuits are darker than any of the other ones." Mercedes saw it, too. There were mostly red jumpsuits in the room. (The humans probably found most of their abilities to be a threat), but there were none the dark crimson color that she, Puck, Artie, Quinn and Santana wore.

Sugar mentioned, "I used to wear one like yours, but the material was infused with these strong scented fibers and they had bells attached to them. They made my uniform special for me," she bragged. "But, I wasn't a fan." She shrugged her shoulders and noticed Joe smiling at her. It made her want to turn invisible again. "So, I don't know if you have had the chance to meet anyone, yet. I sort of know everybody here," she said, then mumbled, "Even the ones that have never seen me before."

Puck said, "I'm Puck."

"Is that the name that you gave yourself? It's sad. We'll have to think of a more creative one than that. But, you know what? We don't have to right now – but you'll have to be called something else." Quinn raised an eyebrow at her, not particularly caring for her brand of expression. "And, you are the babymama, right?"

"I'm Dominance," Quinn said.

"Much better name," Sugar said, nodding with approval.

Artie smiled brightly at her and announced, "I'm Artie!" She stared at him, unimpressed, at all. He didn't even try to think of a real name for himself? "I ain't gonna lie to you. The only people I ever see are the scientists that torture me and Dr. Evans. I've never had a reason to rename myself. Who was ever going to call me something else?" Without responding, she turned to Brittany and smiled brightly.

Brittany asked, "Did you hear? We finally found out what I can do!"

"We've… known what you can do for years, Femme Feral. It's the doctors that didn't know," Sugar reminded her friend. Brittany frowned. This was confusing and she hoped that none of it was on the test.

_You've already taken the test, _Mercedes reminded Britt. Brittany began looking around confused, then looked at Mercedes and suddenly remembered – yeah, that was why the voice in her head didn't sound like hers nor Lord Tubbington's. Mercedes made a mental note for herself not to communicate that way too much with Brittany.

"Let me ask you a question, Sugar," Quinn said. "Is it true that you have never spent more than a few days in a cell since we were children?"

"It is true!" Sugar cheered. "I've been captured a few times, but I've managed to escape each time, and I sort of have just found different places to sleep. Anywhere but in a cell or anywhere near the Graeae," she said. "Mostly, I've slept in Dr. Evans or Dr. St. James' workplace."

_And in the outside world, _Mercedes reminded her. She simply smirked at Mercedes, without making note of the message that she had been given.

Dr. Hudson was glaring at Sam. All of the doctors seemed to be weary of him lately. Dr. Evans knew that much work might need to be done to gain their trust again. He hated doing so, but when a few of the members of staff were found out to be SID, he quickly responded by having them obtained. "How could you do this to us?" one of the sweetest nurses and probably one of the safest SIDs asked him. "I can breathe underwater! That's it! I don't have super strength or speed or even a resistance to anything else! I can breathe under water," the nurse, Marley Rose cried as she was being taken away.

Dr. Hudson shook his head and said, "That's such a shame. She could have been the future Mrs. Finn Hudson, if she wasn't one of them."

Dr. Evans tilted his head and asked, "Are you seriously over Dr. Berry that quickly?"

Finn frowned and shuddered, "Please – don't even mention her. Just the thought of her letting that _thing _touch her makes my skin crawl."

"It wasn't her fault. She was under the influence," Sam defended. "But, with your attitude about her unfortunate situation, it's no wonder that she's missing."

"I'll tell you what is a wonder, though, Sam… The fact that all of us have been injected with a tracking device, yet anytime anyone tries to track her, they can never get a clear signal."

"The tracking devices obviously are substandard," Sam said.

"Your father designed them," Finn accused.

"Obviously he failed," Sam retorted.

"Or someone is helping her to stay under the radar. I wonder who that could be?" Finn said.

"I wouldn't put much energy into it. We have enough to worry about with getting all of these tests completed."

"You wouldn't put much energy into it," Finn repeated. "Dr. Evans – you were the last person to see Rachel alive. You talked to her in the parking lot, walked her to her car and had a conversation with her, even after she got inside."

"Am I a suspect in the investigation under Dr. Finn Hudson?" Sam asked, amused.

"There's definitely something that isn't right about it. What did the two of you talk about?" Finn asked.

"The Starchildren and what happened between her and Jesse," Sam said. "I have nothing to hide. She wanted to know what all was in her system when she pounced on him and I reassured her that her body did not stand a chance against the serum cocktail and that it wasn't her fault that this happened… Unlike you, obviously. What did _you _talk about the last time that you saw her? I'm sure that your opinions would have a hell of a lot more weight with her than mine." Sam said and resumed assessing the test results.

Marley sat in the cell and cried. This was SO bad! She had gone in here, thinking that she was safe. She was only supposed to be around to be a friendly and a helping hand to the Starchildren in distress on the inside. It was never even dreamed of that any of them would be caught! Her door opened and one of the trustees came in, carrying a stack of white jumpsuits. "Oh my stars!" Marley choked out. "Wade, please…" she attempted.

He shrugged his shoulders and softly said, "I'm sorry, Nurse Rose. They said that you have to change into the jumpsuit." He set them down and offered, "Maybe because you can only breathe under water, things won't be so bad?" He left the cell, and the guard locked it back with the electronic code.

**Rory:**

He sighed and collapsed onto his cot for the day, sporting his red jumpsuit. He gave Wade a quick nod of the head and asked, "What's she up to, eh?"

Wade sighed and looked forward, as his eyes became a pale shade of purple, then returned to normal. "She's helping with the tests, just as she was before and after dinner. Why don't you ever tell her that you like her?"

"Well, she's a bit hard to catch up with, you know? That entire – becoming invisible and staying that way most of the time – thing." Rory sighed and said, "I remember when I tried to separate, so that I could encircle her and make her talk to me… she slipped right through my fingers."

"How many of you were there?" Wade asked.

"Five," Rory answered.

"And you let her get away?" Wade teased, chuckling.

"She literally slipped right through my fingers," Rory reiterated. "I don't think she's quite got control of it, yet – but when she does, she'll be able to walk through walls and anything else she sets herself to. She's such a fascinating little creature. She simply always strives to grow more and do better."

"You act like you know her or something," Wade said. "Most of the stuff you know about her, you learned from me!"

"Well, she is YOUR bestlie," Rory said.

"Actually, that's bestie, and surely you know that I've told her all about this little fascination of yours. She's waiting on you to do something that warrants the attention of someone as fabulous as her."

"Now, I don't know if you missed this piece of information, but… we all live in a cage. We aren't going anywhere and we will never be able to have real lives," Rory said, depressed.

"Now, see – that's where you're wrong. You're bringing in this "we" stuff. Last time I checked, you weren't French. Maybe YOU have resigned yourself to this miserable existence, but not all of us. When I look through the eyes of someone else, or I look out into the world to see what they have in store, I can't help but to dream and to dream big, of a day when this cage is gonna get rattled and I'll come bursting out. Sugar knows that this is not only a possibility, but a probability and if you have the mindset that you'll be here forever, then you're right not to waste her time." Wade began to put on makeup and Rory sighed.

"Wade, that's stuff for women to wear; I told you," Rory said.

"You were wrong. I researched it with my mind's eye. There are plenty of people out there who have the same parts as me and yet look like this. I enjoy this better. It suits me," he said. Rory smiled and shook his head, then turned on his side to go to sleep.

Sleep didn't come easy. He wanted to see Sugar. He heard that she was more visible these days and he seriously wondered what made her change her mind. Everyone knew that Sugar spent most of her days undetected and her nights hiding out to get herself rest for the energy that she drained from herself in staying invisible for so long. His obsession with her was something that he could hardly contain. Wouldn't he love to be able to disappear for a little while? Wouldn't he love for the reason that nobody ever seemed to see him to be because they could not?

**Joe:**

The sorrow in the building, as the humans were tense about the fact that several of their staff were found out to be Starchildren in Disguise, was so thick that Joe could almost touch it. The hallways were crowded with residents, being administered the test. For what reason? Joe was unsure. After all – if any of the residents came out to be human, would that not undermine the entire program? Perhaps it was to show that the test worked. If the test consistently showed that the Starchildren who lived in the S.T.A.R.S. facility were all, in fact, Starchildren, then they would be able to mass produce it and force citizens to take it… Then, the inside population would grow. Already, he knew of three humans who had been found out and automatically seized, under suspicion of terroristic threats against humanity.

He frowned when he heard his name and turned to see one of the guards handing him something, "This Star-sh*t has an unauthorized object in her possession, and she refuses to tell me where she got it."

The woman folded her arms and asked, "And I suppose this gutless traitor is going to try to _make _me tell you?"

"He's going to let it tell it," the guard told her. The woman stared at Joe as he twirled the object around in his hands.

He saw the woman, being brought into Dr. Hudson's office, by a nurse. He saw her struggle as Dr. Berry administered the serum. He saw the nurse escort her to another cell and hand her the book that he was now holding. He saw the face of Nurse Rose and heard her say, "This is for afterwards. You don't really have an outlet for the things that happen to you. Writing down your emotions sometimes helps you to handle them." Joe sadly looked at the woman, and tried to think of a lie to help her to keep the precious gift, but the guard was staring at him,. Expecting some answers.

"Nurse Rose gave it to her," he said. The woman made a loud, angry noise and lifted her hand, about to strike Joe with it, as her fingertips lit up. Joe braced himself for an attack, but Quinn stepped directly in front of him and looked the woman right into the eyes.

"Aphasia, stop," Quinn commanded. The woman's hand froze and she glanced at it. Quinn snatched the book from Joe's grasp and handed it back to its owner. Then, she turned to the guard and said, "You didn't find anything suspicious on her, but if you see that book again, it's hers to keep." He nodded once and went on his way. Aphasia tucked her diary into her red jumpsuit and glared at Joe. But, she smiled at Quinn and thanked her before heading back to her cell. Now, Quinn looked at Joe and asked him, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be in the red jumpsuit? You can't at least _try _to make life a bit more bearable for us?"

"I _do _try, Quinn. It simply is impossible," he said.

"I refuse to accept that and you'll have to learn how to do the same thing. Do you know what her ability is? She was going to turn you into something… most likely stone, because she goes by the name of Medusa. But that isn't something that a white suit like you would know, is it?"

"I didn't put myself into this jumpsuit, Quinn – anymore than you put yourself in that scarlet one," he tried.

"Yeah, but we both seem to wear our jumpsuits well," she said and moved right on along.

Finally, everyone was able to head off for the night. They had gone through a significant amount of the tests and were told that there would be more to process in the morning. Blaine and Quinn walked shoulder to shoulder, as did most of the others who had been recruited for the testing period, to their new cells. But, Sugar giggled, to where only she could hear it and playfully reached for Mercedes' hand. Mercedes glanced over at her and Sugar said, "We don't have to go to no stinkin' cell! You got connections."

Sugar maneuvered herself and Mercedes around the others and as they made a dash, Mercedes heard one of the guards ask, "Where the hell did the other two go?" She looked behind her to see their friends peering around, to see if they could notice a sign of them anywhere, but they couldn't. Nobody could tell that they there a mere few feet away, running wild, like the wind.

"Sugar, where are we going?" Mercedes asked.

"Ah, ah, ah… You didn't say the right name!" Sugar teased, pulling the woman behind her.

"Apparition!" Mercedes called.

"Too late!" Sugar yelled and broke out into a sprint, holding onto Mercedes' fingers. "If you let go, they'll see you and hear you. You'll be caught. You better keep up, Princess!" Sugar said, with her voice full of laughter.

"Apparition!" Mercedes called again. Then, when they were running towards the gate, Mercedes shut her eyes and let out a shrill scream. The two of them passed right through the gate, then Sugar fell to the ground. "Oh hell. Sugar?" Mercedes called, and shook her hand, to try to rouse her. "I need you to get up…" A patrol car began to roll near them and Mercedes ground her teeth, waiting for them to be apprehended and dealt with… but the car kept going. Then, she remembered – she for whatever reason could adopt her friends' abilities when they were near her. But, Sugar was unconscious. She needed her awake. She wondered how close someone had to be for her to use their ability…

Mercedes let go of Sugar's hand, rubbed both of her own hands together, then reached out towards Sugar, hoping that maybe she could use Blaine's trick to wake her, but Sugar's eyes began to blink and she opened them and stared at Mercedes. "You did it. You got us out of the gate," she said.

"No, I didn't. I don't even know how to do that. That's a part of you," Mercedes told her.

"Don't you realize what you can do? You make us able to be who we were meant to be." Sugar sat up and said, "I've been trying to do that without fear for my life for months." Mercedes helped her up.

"What are we doing outside of the gate? We need to go back inside. Unlike you, I can't be invisible for however long I want to. I'll be in trouble when they realize that we aren't there," Mercedes said.

"Are you kidding? Do you know how important you are? You don't need to be inside of this place. You need to be in the outside world, where you can do the best job of getting the others out!" Sugar stressed and pulled Mercedes in the opposite direction of the facility.

"No. I won't leave them. I get out when they get out," Mercedes said. Sugar let go of her and sighed. As Mercedes walked back to the fence, Sugar simply watched as she tentively placed her hands in front of herself and phased through the fence. Sugar followed, and they returned to their cells.

"Do you at least have a plan?" Sugar asked.

"No… But I feel one coming, soon." Mercedes said and turned to face the night. Miles away she heard a singular thought, coming from a stranger, but a sister… _It's her. She's in that place. I can see her! _


	8. People of Powers

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**People of Powers**

**Tina:**

Life had taken a turn for the worse. When she initially found out that she was "gifted," as her foster mother always told her, she thought that it would be the worse time ever in life. Mama Chang was an excellent ally and even though her husband, Mike Chang Sr. had been blatantly against her and Mike Jr. being the people that they were, he never forcibly tried to stop them. "The world that we live in is not a safe place for someone like you," he told them. "I know that I can be overbearing and very restrictive, but I don't want to see either of you hurt. You're my children and I love you," he told them.

But, they both found out that not only were they not his children, but they weren't related to him, remotely. They weren't even human. Tina remembered that day of recollection, frequently. The entire family was out at a gathering for Mr. Chang's lawyer friend when someone yelled, "Turn down the music! They're talking about the aliens on the news!" Everyone rushed to the television, even Mama Chang, though Mr. Chang stayed back and the two Chang children squeezed through the crowd to get a better look.

A man named Dwight Evans was on the news stating, "With the recent escape attempts by the extraterrestrial children in our custody, we have now decided to place them in cells to keep outside humans safe. Initially, they were in bunks, but the things that these children are beginning to do is taking its toll on the facility and the program, and we now have to start locking them up better." There was footage of children in jumpsuits being escorted around by a black woman with a head wrap, who the news spoke to, next.

"Well, to ask me if I think that they are dangerous is a bit unfair. I think that they are children and if you ask me, human children have the capacity to be dangerous, as well. I think that if we were to teach them to love and and respect, as we do with our own children then, they wouldn't be any more dangerous than a human child. Their sorrow and their fears often trigger their responses. They never asked to be who they are and they shouldn't be punished for it," Carmen Thibodeaux told the interviewer.

"Well, what types of responses have been triggered by their feelings of sorrow and fear?" The reporter asked.

"Let me simply say that a child who is in the same room with a gun is not necessarily going to fire it. If you teach that child that the gun is dangerous and you make sure that you hide the gun from them, they will never fire it. These children are not properly being taught that what they do is dangerous. In fact, they are being encouraged to act out so that scientists can document their abilities and try to use them…" She was quickly cut off and the anchorpersons in the news studio began talking about something totally unrelated. Tina looked over at Mike and she could sort of see him, but as a gel-like, invisible-like entity. She reached for his hand and noticed that she looked the same way.

On the ride home, Tina asked their parents, "Who were those children on the news? They sound kind of like us."

"Well they aren't!" Mr. Chang snapped at her. She and Mike both were stunned, but the man softly added, "You and Mike are our children and, we've told you – you must never tell anyone what you can do or even let them ever see it. Because, if you do, they'll take you away from us and lock you up, just like they've done with those children that you saw on the news."

Now, Tina knew the truth about her perfectly imperfect family. Mister and Mama Chang had never been able to have children of their own, and the universe made it so that Mike and she landed in the same area and one of many of the Starchild "grave robbers," sold them to the Changs as twins for a very pretty penny and his silence, of course. She stood on the balcony, staring out at the institute. "That's not healthy, Gift," she heard her brother say. "You can't just stare at the place all of the time.

"Well, I have to do something to try to ease my mind, since you're hellbent on keeping me away from the building," she said.

"For a good cause! You went too far when you were there, last and you've forced a lot of good SIDs into hiding. Maybe you're ready to fight this world and to fight the system, but you should have respect for all of the others who _aren't _ready."

"I disagree. The _last _thing that I should have for any Starchild who isn't ready to fight for our freedom is respect," she sighed and went into the hotel room. Mike sighed and now stared out at the pathetic view of the city. It was nothing like home. Lima, Ohio… why did they choose to put the center in this dreaded place, of all places? But, since finding out where the center was, Tina became determined to find it and the "twins," left their beloved human parents behind in the middle of the night when they were fifteen and had been on their own, since.

Now, she spent many days and nights, using her telescopic vision to look at the building that their brethren were kept captive inside of. She believed that she could someday be able to use telescopic vision accompanied by her x-ray vision. If she could do that, the rest of the Starchildren were as good as free. She fell donw on the bed and shut her eyes. Mike went inside and joined her. She would most likely wait for him to fall asleep, then get up, staring at that building and training her eyes and mind again.

**Mike:**

Matt Rutherford, Azimio Adams and Wes Leung were best friends for years. They were often called the "Black and Yellow Clique." By the time the boys got to high school, it was always fun to share everything with them. Tina often tagged along, because she herself had fought with a stutter when around people who were not her immediate family and simply didn't really have any friends of her own. Mike worried about her, a lot – because every since she realized that they were different, a normal life was simply not enough for her. She was always sad and spent most of her time in solitude.

Shortly before Tina and Mike ran away from home, Mike came out to his friends. They were all at Wes' home when Azimio asked Tina, "Why don't you ever watch tv?" The tv was on. Everyone else was paying attention, but she was looking through the walls and seeing the amount of vermin and insects that the Leungs home had… which was very distracting for her and a little scary. Plus, whenever she watched television, she could never get into it, because her eyes would begin changing and her vision kept switching on her. She didn't answer him and it was expected.

They all knew that Tina would not respond, because of her stutter and she most likely would never say anything unnecessary, but though they knew, Mike stepped in with, "Because tv is for the mindless, like us. Why don't we go out and do something – dance or something? I heard that there was a dance battle show goin' down tonight!" Mike was so suddenly excited about this.

"Yeah, but none of us dance and it's not like we could compete; even if we did, we're just a bunch of kids to the street dancers," Wes said.

Matt chimed in with, "I dance and maybe we could just watch. It'll be fun!"

So, they set out to the place and at first, it was great. They were having fun. Even Tina was grooving in the audience as the dancers competed. But, then… Mike started dancing and it was magical. It was like he had been doing it all of his life… and they knew that he had never taken a single lesson before! Tina stared, took a swallow and simply shook her head when she heard Matt ask, "Did you have any idea that your bro could move like that?"

Mike excelled in the competition, but during a short break, Tina grabbed his hand and said, "What you were doing just now… you were doing it with our special gifts!"

"I don't know how it happened. I wanted to dance and I started and my body started doing things that I saw from watching dance movies and music videos. I thought that my special gift was to blend in, but I guess there's more to it than that."

"Uh, yeah – I saw your energy, when you were dancing. I could see that it was ability driven. We need to go…" She broke through the crowd to head home and while Mike didn't want to leave, not while he was doing so well, he didn't want her wondering off by herself, either.

As he attempted to make his way out, one of the dancers that he beat confronted him, "Who the hell are you, anyway? I've never even seen so much as an online demo from you and suddenly you think you're about to be running things around here."

"I don't think anything. I'm catching up with my sister and going home," Mike said, as his friends began to come out.

"Everything okay, Mike?" Wes asked.

"Yeah, T and I are hitting the road," he said and tried to move around the belligerent dancer.

"Oh no, you're not taking a single step, flyboy! You are about to explain to me where the hell you came from and how you managed to steal the victory from me in that battle!" The dancer said. Mike sighed and pushed past him, but the guy insisted upon fighting, which led to Mike darting away and making himself camouflaged, so that he wouldn't get into a fight and tap into his muscle memory for kung fu movies.

His friends quickly went after him, but were startled when he disappeared on them and even more perplexed when they saw Tina disappear too, a little further away. This called for an explanation, and the boys were willing to go to the Changs' home in order to receive one.

Tina had her arms folded as they all stood outside of the house and Mike admitted, "I didn't know about the being able to mimic stuff part until tonight, but I've been able to camouflage myself since I was six years old. I actually started before that, but I didn't really have control over it, and it seems like it keeps growing and that I can learn to develop my skills accordingly." He sighed and shook his head. "If you believe me at all, I promise – I have no evil intentions for any of you. We're not here to destroy your world, kill or enslave your people, or anything like that.

"Then, why are you here?" Wes asked.

Azimio said, "We're here because we don't have anywhere else that we can go." Tina gasped and looked at him. Azimio held his hand out and told Wes, "Pull my finger." Wes frowned. This was hardly the time for any of Azimio's jokes. But, Tina marched forward and did so and gasped and pulled her hand back. They saw that when she squeezed his finger, it became like clay, with her handprint molded into it. He held his hand out with a smile and allowed the entire thing to melt off, and when it fell in drops on the ground, the liquid rolled towards him and became one with his foot. He smiled and held his finger out to her again. This time, it was back and hard as stone. "I think that it's called density," he said, of his gift.

Tina smiled at him, still holding onto the rock hard finger as it became like flesh again. For the first time in life, she felt like she had someone, besides Mike to relate to. It became even better when Matt chuckled and said, "I knew that something was off about you people – being friends with a kid like me." He held out both of his hands and the dirt began to swish around a little. He sucked his teeth, then said, "Not gonna lie, I'm not like you all. I can't really make my ability do very much. I've never practiced it. But, I can like manipulate the elements. Kind of like the hot witch on The Vampire Diaries." He put his hands down and they all looked at Wes. Wes took a swallow and shook his head.

"I can't do any of that. I'm perfectly normal. I'm human and I can't be around you," he said and backed away, frightened.

"He's going to tell!" Tina said to Mike.

"No, he won't. He's too afraid," Mike said back.

"No, she's right," Matt said and opened a hole in the ground, which Wes fell into. "Oh my God!" Matt screamed. They all ran towards the hole and looked inside. "Wes! Oh my God, Wes!" Matt called. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to do this!"

Mike thought for a moment, then said, "I'll check on him."

"Mike…"

"No, I've seen something on going down a hole before. That means that I can do it," he said. He and Tina rushed to their garage to get some makeshift supplies for his little adventure, then he went into the hole to get his friend out. When he pulled Wes out, he wasn't moving. He… was dead. Matt began to cry and shook his head.

"It's alright," Tina promised Matt. "It was an accident."

"That doesn't make it alright! He was our friend!" Matt fussed at her.

Mike added, "And he was a human. They'll never get over this, if they find out what happened. They'll hunt us all down and they'll hurt innocent people like us. We… we can't let anyone know what's happened."

"What about the Leungs?" Azimio asked. "They're like family to us!"

"That would be thrown out of the window if they realized what happened here tonight," Tina said. She held Wes' hand, kissed him on the forehead and said, "Throw him back in."

"No," Mike told her. I'm going to take him home and leave him in his room. His parents will never be able to see him again. The least that we could do is let them properly say goodbye."

"What about when they start researching what happened to him? How do we explain it? What if they have some kind of way of being able to tell that he was killed by Matt? What if they take Matt and lock him up in that place? It was an accident. We'll all feel bad forever for it. That's punishment enough." She dragged Wes by the ankles and pulled him, to try to push him into the hole, but it closed up and Matt folded his arms.

"I killed one of my best friends. I'm not going to just bury him in a hole and move on with my life." Matt collected Wes from her and cried over his body. Within days, a special team was sent to Chicago to investigate the matter and Tina and Mike fled home, before they could be detected. Last that they knew of – both Matt and Azimio had been secretly taken and brought to the facility and their parents were either silenced, disappeared or went into hiding, because there happened to be no record of the Addams or the Rutherfords that anyone seemed to be able to find.

Mercedes was pretty tired of the testing process, but it was keeping her friends out of individual cells and she was grateful that they looked somewhat pleased with life. They were pretty much done with the testing, and she wondered what would happened after the last of them were performed. It didn't take her very long to find out. The cameras in the building had been playing human shows that featured POP (people of powers) on them. She heard that expression from Sugar's bestie, Unique, and immediately loved it.

The Starchildren had been watching The 4400, Heroes, The Tomorrow People, X-Men, and Alphas… pretty the entire time that they had been testing. "This is giving me all kinds of ideas," Quinn admitted, as they sat in the cafeteria, watching Mystique break Magneto out of prison.

"We have to bide our time, Domino," Mercedes told her. Quinn really loved that name for herself. She had named herself Dominance, but Domino was great, too. Artie had started it and it kind of stuck, at least within their circle of friends. Sugar folded her arms as she appeared out of nowhere, "Where have you been?"

"In the lab. Do you know what they have been up to in there?" She asked. Of course, they didn't know… "They are using Artie's blood to try to construct cells to keep all of us imprisoned!"

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked her.

Sugar looked at the Graeae as she answered, "Their cell is strong, but it isn't indestructible. With the right amount of powers, it could be broken… But, nobody here is able to cross the barrier of powerlessness to destroy it. But, with the rest of us, if they put US in cells, we could always be broken out, because we don't make others in our vicinity powerless. They want to put ALL OF US in cells… and harvest us!" She said, with her eyes becoming teary. "They want to harvest us for our abilities. They want to study us and do things to us without us being able to escape or do something that results in what they would call a justified execution!" She urgently put her hands on Mercedes' shoulders and said, "You have to do something! We can't let them do this to us! Do you know what these tests are really for? They KNOW that we're all Starchildren. They know that we have abilities. Now, they want to try to document our genetics for the biological engineering of human parts. They want to clone our powers so that humans can become the ultimate species!"

Quinn and Puck looked at each other, obviously worried. Mercedes did not seem nearly as shaken up as the others at the table did. She simply said, "I will never let that happen. I know that I haven't been much help, thus far. But, I promise, THAT will never happen!"

"We're almost done with the so-called testing. They'll either put you all back into your cells, or they'll figure out some way to…"

"I am ahead of them, in every way. But, if it makes you feel any better, watch this," Merecdes told her. She shut her eyes and sent a mental message to someone. The lights all went off and there was noise all about for a moment, then, they came back on. Sugar looked around the room as the lights came back on.

"Did you do that?" Quinn asked Mercedes.

"Not directly, but the point is – the doctors do not know what everybody can do, yet. They wish that they knew, but they don't. _I KNOW, _and I won't let them put all of you in a cell like the Graeae. None of us will ever be put into a cell again."

"We need to get out of this place!" Sugar urged, squeezing Mercedes' hand.

"There has to be a process. Why don't you trust me?" She asked.

Sugar sighed and dropped her head, "I _do…_but,"

"If you trust me, believe me when I say that I am not going to let anything happen to you," Mercedes said and wrapped Sugar up in a hug.

Quinn rubbed Mercedes on the shoulder and looked over at Puck. He frowned and the guys seemed to be getting some kinds of idea. Quinn didn't want to let it go too far, so she did the one thing that she could think of at the time, "Mindwhisper is our leader. Trust her plans and orders." They all nodded their heads and Quinn and Mercedes looked at each other. Mercedes sighed. She knew that the humans were up to no good, but she had not known it was like this. Gen pop made it more difficult for her to keep up with the thoughts, because she was now _surrounded _by people, and most of them had restless thoughts. Lately, it had even been difficult to keep up with Sam, but she sincerely hoped that he was not a part of this plot to lock them all away into cells.

**Matt:**

When he saw Tina on the television, his heart leaped in his chest. He always wondered what happened to his childhood friends after he was taken away from them. But, the way that the humans in the center were acting – like they had no idea that there were SIDs in the world, when obviously, they must have known. Hell – he had been taken from the outside world and put into this place. He and Azimio were able to come together at mealtimes, but other than that, he didn't get a chance to see his friend.

He knew that things were changing when he saw the legendary most dangerous Starchildren, accompanied by the white coats as people in gen pop were escorted down the hallway. Azimio looked up at him from his the floor and Matt nodded once at him to acknowledge him. _I see this suspicious sh*t, too… _The look seemed to say as Matt leaned against the stairwell and continued to watch all of them be lined up near the Graeae.

The weeks went by, there had been several fights, many of them escalated into displays of powers and control over them. That was until the programs began. It started with a message. On a starry night screen: **Your system has been hacked. This is now a People of Powers broadcast. **Well, the Starchildren would pause what they were doing and begin to watch the televisions and camera screens. It was an excellent distraction for everyone. Fights were not as rapid. They weren't as afraid of the personnel. Matt enjoyed it, as much as a person could under such situations.

On the last day of testing, as the last few test subjects were being escorted away, someone caught his attention. He stared at her for a very long time. She had black hair and dark brown, doe like eyes. There was something so familiar about her… He sat back on the rail, watching her and wondered to himself, _Where have I seen that woman before? _

_What woman? _He heard in his mind. Not his voice… _a telepath_? He had heard of them, but in the ten years that he was here, he had not met any.

_Not A telepath, THE telepath… _She looked around for a moment, as though searching for something, then, she made eye contact with Matt and told him, _Nice to meet you. I'm Mindwhisper. _He stumbled backwards and went down the stairs, even though he had not been permitted. She watched him, but didn't stop him, or encourage him to pause. When he got closer, guards seized him and she smirked, not that he was being captured, but that he was close enough for her to use his power. She'd heard his thoughts, before. He controlled the elements. She knew most of the voices of the Starchildren, by now, and she had been waiting to meet this one face to face for a while, though she had never let herself be known to him, surely, everyone there had heard about her.

Mercedes walked towards the Graeae's cylinder cell and put both of her hands on the glass. She was the only one of them, so far that she knew of who was not powerless around them. Matt was close enough to her that she could tap into his power, even if he himself could not currently use it. The water in the cell became a whirlpool, and as Mercedes shut her eyes, the earth began to shake and the cell began to crack. Matt watched in awe, now the guards were trying to stop her and he had to try to fight them. Azimio, seeing this going so badly rushed over to jump in, as well. Chaos broke out, but Mercedes stepped back from the cell and the glass shattered, passed over her, like she was some type of rock, thanks to Azimio's presence, and splashed all over the fighting group behind her.

"What the hell?" Schuester said, as he saw the commotion on the screen, while in a meeting with some of the other doctors. Sam saw too and shook his head. What the hell was she doing? Schuester sounded for an alert and the doctors watched in shock and horror as the women in the tank seemed to be awakening to themselves. Sam simply watched, somewhat amused by everything. She looked right at the camera and smiled brightly into it. Then, the screen cut to the night sky and the message that always began to play when the movies or shows were about to begin: **Your system has been hacked. This is now a People of Powers broadcast. **But, instead of showing a movie or a show, the news came on.

"Starchildren terrorists found and executed… The group of people who were first mistaken for armed subjects, were in fact Starchildren who have eluded the government for many years. Counterterrorist soldiers successfully took the terrorists and are bringing them into custody at an undisclosed location… The human rights group who has openly supported the Starchildren and openly protested against how the government handles them has been officially identified as a terrorist group…" The screen went black and Sam shook his head.

Moments later, when the camera was a camera again and they were looking at the scene in gen pop, they could barely see what was happening. The Starchildren in captivity had gone crazy! The news had obviously affected them very much and now – there was pandemonium in the area, as the guards showed up. He heard Will say, into his communicator, "Be certain to take Mercedes alive. With her, I don't think that we need any of the others. As for them, shoot to kill."

"Are you insane?" Sam asked him, grabbing his lab coat into both fists.

"Are you? I have a feeling that you knew that she could whatever they can do! I wonder why you wouldn't report something like that."

"She CAN'T do whatever they can do. She can ONLY borrow from them and they have to be within the vicinity of her. If you kill any of the others, we LOSE their ability!"

Will stared into Sam's eyes, wondering if this was a trick. Sue, however did not seem willing to risk it, "Do NOT shoot to kill, Do not fire. Try to sedate them, but do NOT fire!" She ordered the guards. Sam sighed with relief and shoved Will away from himself. Sue pointed her finger at Sam and said, "But Will is right about you! Now, I never liked you, that much is for sure. But, I at least believed in your skills as a doctor and I wanted all of your father's research. But now, none of that means a thing to me. Schuester – you have Dr. Evans' job. Dr. Evans, you better HOPE that I don't fire you after we've had a chance to try smooth out the mess that you've made. Because, you know that people don't quit or get fired from this job. They get scrapped."

Sam's jaw clenched at her and he said, "I seriously doubt that you have the clout to take my job away, considering that I know for a fact that the Starchildren in this program will never cooperate with you, _without_ me."

"To hell with their cooperation. The factory has made the containment cells and they are being shipped over, as we speak!" She turned away from him and made her way towards the control tower, with Becky following after her, faithfully. Sam and Will looked at each other and Sam left Will's laboratory.

_Mercedes, I need you to stand down, please. Director Sylvester is going to be on a rampage, if you don't!_

_**Director Sylvester can burn in hell, **_Mercedes told him, right back.

There is going to be a lot of Samcedes next chapter, so don't be discouraged that this fic has been an ensemble piece most of the time.


	9. Whose Side Are You On?

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

_****_**Whose Side Are You On?  
**

Tina smirked at what she was seeing in the distance, then with one last look at one sleeping Mike, she quickly made her way outside. The black van was parked in the back of the hotel and the door opened for her. She got inside. "Is he coming along?" A females voice asked her.

"No. He isn't ready for the revolution. I don't blame him. I blame the humans that raised us to think that we should be ashamed of who we were," she answered and looked at a bound and gagged human. "Why is she like that?" She asked and reached over to free the young woman. "That is not how we operate. How are you? Do you need anything?"

Rachel sobbed and said, "Please… Just… let me go."

"We can't do that. You are carrying inside of you someone who is very special to us… and if we let you go and the humans catch you – they are going to treat your baby like a science project. You worked with them. You know how it is. Is that what you want for that child?" Tina's eyes glared into Rachel and Rachel shook her head, no. "Neither do I. We don't want that for _anyone. _Why do you think you've been protected? Those humans would find you in a heartbeat if you remained on your own."

"How did_ you _find me?" Rachel wondered.

"Well, in addition to the fact that I can see just about anything but a person's soul, we also have a very, very reliable technopath on our side," Tina said.

"A technopath? One that can communicate with computers?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, and virtually anywhere that anyone goes, there are cameras. The institute belongs to the government, so they have the best technology in the world… We can tap into it – satellites and all." Tina said, with a smirk. She reached for Rachel's womb and said, "I know every single free SID that there is and never once have I ever heard of a half human half Starchild baby."

"I heard that it was attempted, but never successful…" She dropped her head and admitted, "This is probably not going to be successful."

"The hell it isn't," Holly said from the driver's seat. Dustin was seated next to her and he glanced at Rachel with a frown, but faced the road again. Holly added, "There is no way that we have all been labeled as terrorists in our efforts to give incarcerated Starchildren freedom and rights just so we could lose the one bridge between us and them that we even know of."

"My baby is a political tool for you?" Rachel asked, offended.

"Are you kidding, right now?" Tina wondered, "That baby is more than a tool, for _anyone_. That baby is a sign of hope! If he or she can come into this world, this world may be able to see that our people and your people can be harmonious. For someone who spent years working at a place that objectified others similar to your baby, you surely seem to have a judgmental approach."

"I'm going to be a mother. I have a responsibility to look out for this baby," Rachel said. She had no idea why the child meant so much to her, considering that she had not asked for it. But the way that it protected her that night and the connection she felt to it…

"Right – even though you could care less about Starchildren and you probably hate Jesse for hiding what he is from you," Dustin said, looking into the mirror.

"Be gentle. The woman is with child. You don't want to stress her out, Dustin. She's about to be surrounded by others that she has considered enemies all of her life." Holly drove into what looked like an underground parking lot, but Rachel realized that she kept going… They were in some type of underground territory.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Your government has declared war against us. We are going to the only place where it's safe – where they have evacuated from. It's where all the rebels go to regroup," Tina told her. They drove for miles before stopping. Rachel was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She wanted to figure out where she was. She wanted to pay attention to every detail that she could see… which were not very many, at all. When they finally stopped the van and dragged her out of it, she marched along, with Dustin's hold strongly on her, making sure that she didn't try to run.

Tina was scanning the area with her eyes, changing colors. She nodded forward and they went to a particular place and she knocked. "It's Sightgift! I can see you," she said. "Open up, please." The door opened slowly, but it opened wide. They were being allowed inside. The place was dimly lit, but there were several computers and a laboratory. Rachel wondered where they were and who was here, until she turned around and faced a legend, with a look of shock on her face. "Professor Tibideaux?" She said.

The door shut behind them and the woman sat down on a recliner. "I knew that eventually one of you would find me. The humans, I've never wondered about. They're slow enough and arrogant enough that they can be figured out and avoided. But, I figured that if I were to be found, it would be by a Starchild."

"It wasn't easy. You keep moving," Tina said.

"It's not safe for me, even in a place where the humans rarely ever come. Everyone wants me dead," she said with a weak smile.

"No," Tina corrected her. "Everyone who _counts _wants your help. If they don't, they _need _it."

"I tried to help those kids. There's nothing that I can do for them now. I was hacked into their system and saw the feed of the cameras. The Starchildren have taken over the facility. The government will blow it up before they allow any of them to escape. All of the world powers will come together to nuke the entire city, if they think that they have to."

"Yeah. That's why we need your help. We need a bridge, and I don't think that Sam can do it anymore," Holly said to the older woman.

Carmen sighed and said, "Doctor Evans should never have been involved in this, in the first place. He was too close to it, to begin with." She frowned and slipped into a flashback.

_ Sam was walking through the halls and waving at the Starchildren. She was sad for him. He had no idea of the difference between himself and them. To him, they were all kids and he probably just wanted to find friends his age. Why the hell had Dwight brought that kid in, anyway? She approached him, "Why, hello, Mister Evans." Sam looked up at her and smiled._

"_Hello Doctor…" he looked at her name badge for only a moment before saying, "Tibideaux."_

"_I almost forgot that you're advanced for your age. You look just like a regular child," she said._

_He smiled at her and winked. The eight year old was far from a regular child and being here, in this building helped him to put a lot in perspective. "I belong here," he said. "This is where I am going to be when I become a doctor."_

"_Why is that?" Carmen asked him. She loved her job – teaching the children, but she hated the circumstances and she wanted nothing more than to tell this kid to never look back. But, if he was going to be of help – he might be on to something._

"_See that girl?" He asked and pointed to Mercedes and Quinn, as Quinn was tying flowers into her friend's hair. "I know her. I've had dreams about her."_

_Carmen looked at Mercedes. Was that another manifestation of her telepathy? Could she visit people's dreams? How would she even know to visit young Sam Evans? "What happened in the dream?" Carmen wondered._

"_In the dream, we're grown up and I love her very much and I die for her," he said, almost too calmly. But, at least Carmen noticed that his eyes were a bit damp when he said it. "I think it's my destiny. Do you believe in destiny, Doctor?"_

"_I do… but I can't say that I believe that your destiny is to die for somebody else. Nobody has a destiny like that?"_

"_What about the Christ archetype?" He asked. She tilted her head. He was so much like her special kids. His speech was so mature for his age and he was so fearless, even discussing some pretty heavy issues that would baffle and frighten most human children._

"_That's a myth," she said. Now, he gasped and shook his head. "Well… I suppose I should say that there is no evidence of the things that Christians believe to exist. I… almost forgot that your parents have raised you Christian. Dr. Evans is a scientist" (and a terrible person) she thought, "and most scientists only believe in things that can be proven."_

"_Two things," Sam told her, "My dad doesn't believe, not really. He thinks that it's good to teach morals and stuff, like fairy tale. My mom is the one that really believes. Second thing… they aren't my real parents. I'm adopted." He smiled at her and raised a finger to his lips._

_Now, she bent down and asked him, "Why would you tell me that?"_

_He whispered and pointed to Mercedes again, "That girl that I'm gonna die for, she said that you can keep secrets."_

_Carmen looked over at Mercedes and asked, "Is she talking to you, right now?"_

_He smiled and shook his head, "No… but I'm listening to her." Sam touched the tip of Doctor Tibideaux's nose and she felt this energy that she'd only felt a few times before… that indescribable energy that she felt when she touched one of her kids while they were using their powers. She quickly stood up straight and stared at him. __**Dwight was harboring a Starchild? Did he know? Was it some type of experiment? Why wasn't he the same age as the others? **__Dwight came down the hallway to meet up with Sam and she straightened her face. One thing that she did know – she would not be discussing this with Dwight. She would be researching them, on her own time, though. What the hell was this about?_

**Sam:**

He rushed through the hallways and headed for where the commotion was. He'd be damned if they let everything that he worked so hard for, for so long come to this. _Mindwhisper, I know that you're upset and that you're frustrated, but I need you to stop everyone from the chaos that is going on._

_Your needs seem to be inconsequential to me, at the moment, _she told him.

_I guess. But… I'm headed that way. I'm coming to you; I don't care if it kills me, _he told her.

_ Dr. Evans was not a simple man. He had never been. From the time that he was a baby, he was oddly aware of things. He could remember things that nobody else seemed to be able to remember, and there were times when he seemed to force people to remember things that they ought not to have remembered, at all. For instance… he could remember his father finding him when he was two. He couldn't remember a thing before that, but when the man picked up the naked toddler from a pile of stardust in a crater of earth, he began to remember things such as seeing his wife announce that she was pregnant, seeing the baby born, taking him home to his nursery, etc… Sam was much older before he realized that his small body had taken a self defense tactic and manipulated Dwight Evans' mind to save himself from certain doom._

_ As far as Dwight Evans knew… Sam Evans was his beloved baby boy, and fortunately for the Evans, the devastation of the planet by the shower of meteors that revealed all of those alien babies made most people have to relocate and many people lost a lot of things, like birth certificates and even some places lost all of their towns' records and such. It was fairly easy to become someone else during the time after the storm. All one had to do was be from a place where the records were all lost. Who could refute that you were ever there? Who would? People were too busy trying to rebuild lives and livelihood._

Sam took the stairs. If the elevator paused or something, he would be stuck. He paused when he saw Jesse coming down the hallway. "You're out of your cell," he commented. Jesse nodded his head and they approached each other and stared at one another. "You… helped me… earlier."

"I wasn't helping you so much as I was testing whether or not the test could be altered. Spoiler alert. It can," Jesse said and laughed. He began to take the stairs. "I've missed you. I would hug you, but (GASP) what if someone sees?"

"Jesse – you have to stop helping her. She's going to get you all killed," Sam said, taking the stairs walk with his old friend.

"I'm sorry, Sam; but I have trusted you to take care of things for too long. You were supposed to look over the Starchildren in here and I was supposed to look over them in the world. That was our deal. You tossed it out when you sold me out to protect your own cover. What kind of a leader does that? I have to follow the leader who would gladly die for anybody that is faithful enough to follow her!" Sam grabbed Jesse's arm and threw him against the wall.

"You will follow _me, _because I am who you serve!" Sam roared in a voice that was like his own, but not… in a voice similar to the one that Dominance used when she needed to get a point across. "Stop helping Mercedes to take over the building. You're going to get everyone killed." He unhanded Jesse and Jesse stared at him for a time.

"You… you're unbelievable," Jesse said. "I can't believe that you're making me sell her out!" There were tears in Jesse's eyes. "Hooray for f*cking Earth." Jesse wiped a single tear that ran down his face as he allowed the control of the computers to return to the humans in charge. Sam ran down the stairs towards where he knew the others were. _I'm sorry, Mindwhisper. I'm being forced. I no longer have control over the system…_

_Being forced? Forced by who? _She wondered.

_The one that doesn't let me tell you his name, _he said. _I just can't resist him…_

_Don't worry. Just get yourself out of the building… where he won't be able to get to you again. Find your kid and stay hidden, like you've hidden your family. I'll be in touch._

Mercedes watched as Sam entered the room. She glared at him and opened her hands to part the crowd of Starchildren around her. "What the hell is he doing here?" Puck asked.

Sam announced, "I just came to safely escort the injured humans out of the area." He went to check on someone.

Mercedes frowned and told Puck and Artie, "Let the injured ones out. The conscious ones can help the unconscious ones."

"If we let the humans go – they'll seal this place off and burn it down," Artie said.

Sam scoffed and said, "They'll kill any of you, any of us, anyone period, without a second thought. I am trying to help as many people as I can, but all of you make it difficult when you do things like this. They will never trust any of you again. Noah, Quinn – you may as well kiss ever seeing your baby goodbye. Artie – it's back to warfare and weaponry testing you. Mercedes…" He frowned at her and just shook his head, "you should have known better. I expected more from you."

"She is not here to meet your expectations!" Quinn snapped at him.

Sam stood up and smirked at Quinn. "You haven't changed, at all. Still thinking that she needs you to defend her and still jumping in the middle of us." Quinn glared and began moving forward. When she did, Sam simply lifted one finger and she flew backwards and hit a wall. Then, everything froze. Everything, but he and Mercedes. She stared, open mouthed at Quinn, against the wall. At the room, in which time stopped.

"What… what just happened?" She asked.

He sighed, and shook his head. He moved forward and collected her into his arms. Mercedes was afraid. She had no idea how to explain what she had just seen, or rather, who to make sense of it. "Who are you?" She whispered. He sobbed into her hair and shook his head. He could tell her, but until she remembered it, it would make no difference. He decided on a simple answer.

"I am the lock to which you are the key," he said. He stepped back and looked at her. "I need you to remember, or we are all going to end up dead. I can't help them without you."

"You're one of us," she said. "How did you disguise? Did Dr. Evans know? Does anyone?"

"I can do what everyone here can do, sort of like you… but better. I don't have to be around them. I just have to meet them. I was collected at the same time that Quinn was… but she obviously did not have the instinct that I had. Maybe it was because I was older. I don't have all of the answers, but I think that I began aging before we crashed and by the time that we did, while the rest of y'all were in infant form, I was already two. I manipulated Dwight Evans and he always thought that I was his child… up until the moment I killed him," Sam said. She gasped. "Jesse knows. He was my right hand, until you stole him away. Now, I guess that I have to just lean on Sugar…" The invisible girl had snuck out of nowhere and stuck Mercedes with a needle.

"I am so sorry, Your Highness!" She said and bit her fist as Sam caught Mercedes, as she fell.

"I overheard her telling Jesse to get out. Take her and go with them," he said.

Sugar nodded her head and pulled the wheelchair out that Sam had discretely told her to meet him with. He set Mercedes into the chair and sighed. "I really hate to do this to them."

"They'll have to understand. The two of you are more important than any of us," Sugar said, helping him to grab Susie and set her up. Susie was telekinetic and she was about to have to take a hit for Sam. They still couldn't find out about him… not until Mercedes got her memory back. He had to hold out, even though it was getting harder and seemed more impossible. Susie's arm was outstretched and she was standing in front of Sam. Sugar began to push the chair and said, "Please don't start time again until I've got her outside of the gate."

"I won't do anything to risk you not escaping with her," Sam said. When Sugar finally gave him the signal to go ahead and time began again, Quinn fumed as she fell to the floor.

"Susie, what the hell?" Noah stormed at the girl.

Susie looked down at her own hands, then at Sam, who she quickly shook her head at. "I… I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to, Quinn…" She was suddenly aware of others encircling her, until she asked, "Where's Mindwhisper?" Now, gasps and ruckus began.

Wade reached out with his clairvoyance and told them, "She's unconscious… AND off of the grounds with Sugar!"

Aphasia pointed a finger at Susie and asked, "What the hell is going on? Who's in on this? What are you doing with her?"

"I swear to you, I haven't done anything! I have no idea how Quinn was tossed over there and Sugar having Mindwhisper outside unconscious.. what? I mean – she can't teleport! The only reasonable explanation is that time was stopped!"

Quinn's fists were balled up and she said, "Sean?"

Susie told them, "He's the only one who can stop time… and it's not like anyone thought to go help him out of his bed to be a part of this. He's been stuck in that bed since the explosion and maybe he's pissed that he was probably going to be left behind?"

Quinn pointed at Sam and told him, "Don't think that because Mindwhisper is not here that we will surrender. We won't… and I don't know what the hell you were talking about a moment ago, but we'll discuss it later." She grabbed a guard by the collar and commanded him, "Bring me the one that you've named Sean and stop at nothing to get him here!"

Sam raised an eyebrow and told her, "I'm still taking the injured humans."

"No. That was Whisper's order. My order is a bit more… problematic for you. Kill the injured," she said, to Sam. He trembled. If he resisted, like he could, he would be found out. Sam slowly began to move and she tilted her head. "Can you _resist _my voice, Dr. Evans?" She wondered. But he made his move. This was getting worse. Maybe he should fess up… and risk the others knowing and trying to cage him up? They would never get another Starchild in his position, again. He had to follow the order and he prayed that afterwards, she would release him. Sam reached for one of the guard's guns, to do the task, but before he could accomplish it, Joe hit him and knocked him out. "JOE!"

"If we do this – everyone dies, Quinn. Be reasonable. Mercedes never would have ordered something like that!"

"Fine. Let the injured go, as she said… but next time, just raise your hand and make a suggestion… and you need to find a name. I hate the name Joe. It's so human and common." Joe gave her a satisfied nod and reached down to help Sam. When he touched the labcoat, he saw what had happened a moment ago and he gasped and dropped the doctor. "What? What did you see?" She asked.

Joe stared down at Sam and shook his head, "I'm not sure… but I think that we should hold on to him, just in case."

Quinn nodded her head. "Yeah. I'll need him as leverage. But, I also want those other bastards." She ordered a few more guards, "I want Sue Sylvester, Will Schuester and Finn Hudson in this room, bound and gagged and on their needs. Move."

Sam was unconscious, but like Mercedes, he was still able. _Techno… I'm so sorry about earlier. I messed up. The others are in trouble and I'm unconscious. Help them out. I release the control to force you not to take over the system._

_What do they need me to do? _Jesse wondered, as he drove towards the evacuated area outside of the city.

_Keep control of the computers. Don't let the doctors trap them… Let them trap the doctors._

_I know what to do, now. And you and I will have words about what you did to me earlier._

_Love and war…_ Sam thought, before disconnecting himself from Jesse and reaching out for Mercedes. _You can't be there, right now. I'm sorry, but I can't allow things to get messed up like they did, before. _

_I know that you said that I won't remember, if you tell me… but, PLEASE, just tell me what happened. How did I lose my memory? What was it that happened?_

She heard him chuckle inside of her mind and she felt a tingle through her body. This was all so bizarre. They both were unconscious, but telepathically communicating. _They thought that I was human. They wanted to put you in the breeding cage with a human… You didn't want him to be someone random. You wanted him to be someone that you knew… _

_Sam? Did… Are you telling me… But… what does that have to do with me losing my memory?_

_Just, let me tell you, okay? Don't ask anymore questions. I'll just tell you what led up to it and what happened on the day that you lost your memory, or… I guess… I could even just show you…_


	10. Our True Nature

_Don't know about anyone else – but I get triggered by baby death, so just warning the readers that there is some in this chapter. _:( _Also, it was super-duper difficult for me to play this out on paper as it was playing out in my head. I feel like I might have cheated y'all for not having the words to describe how it happened in my imagination. This story stresses me out, that way. I see in images that I can't fully articulate, so I do hope that it's at least somewhat entertaining, even if it isn't my exact vision. Okay…_

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**Our True Nature**

_The dreams were haunting him. He could not stand the visions that he saw in his future, but he could not fight them either. Sam Evans woke up and glanced at the clock. It was 3:30 in the morning. Moby was singing from his stereo, "We Are Made of Stars." That song was always playing, constantly playing in his room. He looked up at the stars and shut his eyes, thinking about the images in his head – images that made no sense, but felt so real and comfortable. He seemed to remember these things, but he knew that his memory could not be trusted and he knew that at times, his imagination would make unreal things become real… That was called projection and he didn't want to think that this was what that was._

_ There was one star in the sky that he could see that he found that his human friends could not. He would point to it; try to single it out through his telescope. He did everything in his power (aside from coaxing) to try to get others to see it. They wouldn't. They _couldn't. _It was not for their eyes to see, as some things were not. But, someone like him could see it. Someone like him could feel it calling to him. __**Come home. Come home. **__He shut his eyes and looked forward, instead. He wanted to reach her, to see how she was, what she was doing. He couldn't resist…_

_Mercedes sat in her cell, against the wall, with closed eyes and an open mind. Someone was there. She raised an eyebrow and wondered, __**Who are you? I know that you need my help. You need me… Let me know what you need. **__Nothing. Like the wind, whoever it had been was now gone. _

_Sam let out a deep breath. Her company was so refreshing and fulfilling. He felt like she was a part of him, or like he was a part of her. Whichever, he didn't care. All he really knew was that he needed to meet her, officially. He needed to know her, see her, and be with her. He went back inside of the room and removed a black curtain from a painting that he owned. He had painted it in a day's time – which had been so frightening to his mother that he had to coax her into not worrying about it and remembering seeing him work on it for months. But, when she looked at it again, she still was alarmed. "Sam… where did you see this woman?" She asked him._

_He stared at her and said, "Okay – you got me. I've been snooping through Dad's stuff, again. Those kids are so intriguing. I can't help it. She's one of his patients. Have you seen her before, or something?" He asked. _

"_I've seen her. She was one of the kids that almost escaped from the center a few months ago. Dwight says that she's dangerous. She can read minds. It's impossible to hide your battle plan from someone like that," Mary said, hugging herself and rubbing her arms. "Sam, why did you paint this? Why is she on a throne and what are these…? Sam…" She turned to see her son glowing and he was looking at his hands in surprise. Mary Evans gasped and backed away._

"_I'm sorry, Mom… I…" He shook his head and she swallowed and covered her face._

"_Sam, how is your skin doing that?" She asked. _

"_I'm sorry," he said, returning to normal, as he reached out to hug her. There was no way that he could let his mother remember seeing the effect that gazing at that painting had on him. He sent her on her way and locked his door. He would never let her see the painting again. But, when he looked at it, those dreams became vivid in his mind and his heart felt drained. Something was missing from him… and she had it. She was the key to… something. He simply didn't know what._

_ When Sam entered his room and saw his things cleared out, he panicked. He pulled the curtains back and saw that his painting was gone. "I don't know who you are and what you've done with my son, but until you give him back, you will never see that painting again," he heard Dwight's voice say. Sam turned around, his green eyes gleaming and his hands starting to glow. "Just as I suspected. A Starchild. Are you a shape-shifter?"_

"_I will be, the moment that I can make contact with Sebastian," Sam said._

"_So… you can do what then? Enter into the body of someone else? Are you inside of my son, or did you somehow replicate him?"_

"_Your son is dead," Sam said, stepping closer to the man. "So is your daughter. You and your wife have never been able to reproduce, which is why you were both so susceptible to the thought of having a son that you took in a Starchild, from day one. Sam Evans doesn't exist. He never did. I was never your son. Where is that painting, Dwight?"_

_Dwight's eyes became damp. As Sam said those things to him, they became real. Dwight's eyes were finally opened and he finally knew the truth – that Sam was never his son. He had found the two year old in a crater, just like those infants and it had deceived him. "You used me! You played on my weaknesses!" _

_Dwight thought about how devastated Mary had been when they prepared a nursery for Stevie, but when Stevie's due date came, they were introduced to a stillborn child. He thought about how she was so afraid when they found out that she was pregnant again, but eventually allowed herself to be excited when she realized that this time, they would have a girl. But, she didn't want to get her hopes up. She didn't want to get so excited that she would name her Stacey or make her a nursery with a dedication wreath for Stevie hanging up above her crib and pink and yellow princess merchandise all over the room… So, Mary was destroyed, yet again when Stacey did not even make it to her due date before they discovered that she was dying in the womb… and nothing could be done to save her._

_ Sam was their gift. Their blessing. He safely made it through the pregnancy. He safely made it through the birthing. He safely made it through infancy and the first two years of his life, filled with joy and moments and memories… It had all been a lie. "You will get nothing from me, Starchild, but what something like you deserves!" Dwight said and pointed a gun at him. Sam lowered his head._

"_I never liked you. But Mary is such a wonderful woman. I've felt sorry for her, marrying someone like you. You're obsessed with your work. You neglect her. When she was hurting the most, dealing with those dead children, you buried yourself in your job, trying for a promotion while her heart was breaking, over and over."_

"_Shut up."_

"_She was crying herself to sleep at night."_

'_SHUT UP!"_

"_I hope that you know that you don't have to tell me, but I will know where my painting is," Sam threatened. He advanced on Dwight and knocked the gun from his hand then grabbed the man's head, with his glowing hands. Dwight squealed as Sam drained every memory, secret, piece of information ever from his mind. He whispered, "I never liked you, but I promise; I won't let you die with shame and bitterness. You ARE my dad, and always have been. I'm your son, Sam. You never found anything suspicious in my room and I love you." Sam took Dwight into his arms and the man was collapsing._

"_Sam?"_

"_Dad!" Sam said, tears in his eyes._

"_Take care of my work," Dwight told him. Sam shut his eyes tightly. _Take care of my work? 

_Even on the verge of death, Dwight Evans cared more about his work than his wife. "I will, Dad. I'll take care of Mom, too." He held the man that he knew to be a true enemy to him in his arms as he died. When Mary came home, the ambulance was there and several authority figures. Sam rushed to her and held on to her tightly, crying, "It's just you and me, now, Mama!" _

"_What happened?" She asked, too in shock to cry. It appeared that he had some type of aneurysm. It appeared… But Sam knew the truth. He kept it to himself. Mary, though human, was a good person. She was not so good that she would ever be able to be an ally. Dwight ruined such a possibility for her, but Sam did love her and wanted her to be happy. She remained single as she watched her son succeed in winning his father's old position. She supported him when he made the decision to make a career in the same field that had stolen Dwight's love and attention from her._

_Sam had been thinking about how he would approach her the entire week. He set up all of his materials in his new lab – Dwight's old lab. He situated everything and hoped that he would not give away anything when he met her. She was THE mind reader of the bunch, from what he learned from his father. He somehow thought that maybe there were repeated abilities, and maybe there were and they simply didn't know it. Even if there were, she was the one that they all knew and from the dreams that he had about her, she was important. He entered the room and nervously fumbled around. "Hi, I am Dr. Evans…"_

"_Yeah. Yeah, I know. I knew the other Dr. Evans, too. He was in charge here," she said, seated calmly, with her hands in her lap. "You're much younger than the other doctors," she observed. That was what she said, but what she thought was something else, all together. She remembered him. She SAW him. She stared at him, wondering if she had simply made these things up in her head. _

_She could see him, walking through a dazzling hallway, with a long ponytail and a small, well kept beard. He had on these elegant, luminous robes with all of these sparkling insignia on it… She looked into his mind… He saw her, too. But, he didn't see her as she was. He saw a version of her that existed in her dreams. Her long hair trailing behind her on the floor, while her right hand woman (with Quinn's face, but significantly different), locked their arms together and whispered, "You know that he would overthrow you in a heartbeat, Princess. Don't stare at him too long. We wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea. What would your parents say?"_

_Dr. Evans broke into her memory when he said, _"_I'm a prodigy. You and I are around the same age. I'm a couple of years older," he said and bit his lip. "Uh… but, even with the other people – the people with normal minds, doctors are getting younger… all occupations, actually. Y'all made that possible," he said, then shut up. Mercedes simply stared at him. If he was a couple of years older than her, that made him seventeen. A 17 year old human doctor – like the adults weren't reckless enough? Mercedes, I am not here to hurt you. I simply wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and I want to complete his life's work."_

"_Your statement contradicts itself," she immediately answered, why her brain was going to an area of complete chaos… She was still talking, but she was also thinking. She was thinking of how Quinn and Sugar seemed to be helping her steal away in the middle of the night, how they were boarding a ship, how she and Sam rushed to each other and threw their arms around one another, while their noblemen and servants awkwardly looked away. Why were these things so… realistic in her mind? And why were emotions stirring up in the pit of her stomach and stinging her heart? She glared at him, after she finished complaining about the doctors._

"_Well, then – I am here to _perfect _my father's work," he told her, then added, "You called me Sam."_

"_Bad habit," she said._

"_No, I like it. You can call me Sam. We're going to be friends, Mercedes," he said._

"_If we're supposedly friends, don't call me Mercedes. That's not my name," she told him._

"_Oh? Well… what is your name?" He asked._

"_Danica," She said. The startled look on his face almost made her shrink back. But, instead, she sat up straight, cleared her throat and said, "I like to call myself Danica Thaqib… I heard that name in a dream that I had and I liked it, but I also go by Mindwhisper. That's the common one. In fact, I never even told anyone about that other name. I don't know why I told you."_

_**Because you can feel my energy inside of you, **__he thought. She stared at him, wondering what he meant by that. Sam held out his hand to shake hers, "Well, we can keep that other name between us, then, but in the meantime," he took her hand into his and time seemed to stop. The two of them stared at each other. They were looking into one another, but seeing each other as someone else. _

_ Over a year had passed when Sue green lighted having Mercedes put into breeding with a human. "Why not just artificially inseminate?" Sam asked, trying not to appear as outraged as he was about just the thought of any of it. _

"_Because we also want to observe their mating patterns with a human – to see if it's different than when they mate with each other. We have some inmates from the prison system that we are testing to determine…"_

"_Inmates? You cannot be serious? Mercedes is one of our finest specimens and you would breed her with some common criminal!" Sam could no longer hide his rage._

"_Calm down, Dr. Evans…" Sue attempted._

"_That is atrocious, even for you, Will. No! We can have stable volunteers, I suggest from the finest in our military, or one of our advanced placement schools," Sam said._

"_You sure that you have no suggestions from our staff?" Will asked. _

_Sam turned on the balls of his feet and rushed towards him, "Excuse you?"_

"_You have been drooling over that starbitch since you stepped foot into this facility!" Will roared at him. Sam reached out and punched him in the side of the face. _

_Sue laughed and pulled him away, "Whoa there, Killer. This is a scientific center, not a boxing ring. Show some respect." Sam shook his hand as Will stared at him, incredulously and Terri tended to her husband's face, glaring at the young man who had just hit her man. "Now, we all know that you have a little bit of Sky Fever," she said. He cringed. Sky Fever? What in hell? "I won't lie to you; there are a few of them that I've glanced at twice, myself. Hell, they look just like us. But, you can't forget that they are dangerous beasts. We can't know what mating with one might do to someone and I wouldn't feel comfortable losing one of our fine soldiers or one of our bright students to this."_

"_Oh, so you do care about human life?" He asked._

"_Not all human life. Hence why we use convicts for this," she said and patted him on the back. "No one is allowed to go into that woman's cell or even near it, until after the mating period. She can read minds and speak to others, mentally. We don't need her finding out what we intend to do and trying to orchestrate a revolt." But, Mercedes had already heard it all. She had been there, with Sam, the entire time._

_**Please don't let them do that to me? **__She begged, breaking his heart._

_**What do you want me to do? I have no idea what to do to stop this… **__He took a deep breath, aware of everyone in the room staring at him and noticing the range of emotions etched on his face. "Are you alright, Dr. Evans?" Becky asked him. He smiled softly at her and nodded._

_**Volunteer. **__Mercedes told him. __**Sam, you're human, but I trust you. They trust you. Say it's for science. I… please… I don't want to become a lab rabbit in a cage with some stranger. It's going to be my first time… **__He could practically hear her tears and she accidentally transferred all of her fear and sorrow in with her pleas. "I _should_ do it," Sam said. His colleagues all looked at him, but he continued, "Dr. Schuester was making a joke to try to provoke me, but he is right. I should volunteer for this program. Mercedes trusts me, so she won't harm me during the course of it. I understand how valuable our specimens are, so I won't savagely treat her like an inmate who has been torn away from all female contact might. We lose no soldiers, no students and no specimen."_

_Schuester shook his head and said, "Your fetish is unbelievable."_

"_Yours isn't? Don't you regularly have April, Shelby and Emma in your lab naked for no damned reason that I can think of, without my sign of approval?" Sam asked. Schuester was red in the face and Terri gasped and folded her arms, outraged at Sam for suggesting such a thing._

_Sue commented, "It's late and I have a hot date. Yes, Dr. Evans, you have my approval."_

_ It would still be awkward as hell. For one thing, these mating rituals were monitored. Sam escorted Mercedes down the hallway and she passed by Quinn, being led in another direction. She hadn't seen Quinn in quite some time, but when Quinn looked over at her, her blue eyes lit up and she looked like she might be smiling beneath that gag. Mercedes reached out and touched her sister's bound wrist, with sorrow in her eyes. When she and Sam were inside of the cell, he instructed the guard, "Leave us."_

_**Why is Quinn always selected for the breeding program? **__Mercedes wondered as Sam opened the kit with the mating serum._

_**Because of her ability. It is not yet known if abilities are hereditary. If they can harvest an ability like that and program its owner from birth…**_

_**They can control whoever they want. But, why didn't they try that with Quinn, then?**_

_**My records show that there was no visible evidence of what you all could do prior to 5 or 6 years old. Some other cases began to show around age 2 or 3, but Quinn's power was not discovered until she was almost 7, and had already developed distrust for humans.**_

_Mercedes nervously stared at the glass that she knew there were people on the other side of, to monitor and she wondered, __**Why are you here, Sam? **__She turned to look at him. __**I mean, you're a decent person and I can tell that you hate what is done in this place. Why would you come here and do the work that you do?**_

_He walked over to her and stopped in front of her, "I'm here because of you," he told her and leaned down to kiss her on the lips. Mercedes' hands strummed up his arms and went into his hair before she stopped and backed away, staring at him in confusion._

_**Isn't there something you're supposed to inject me with to make this easier on me?**_

_He sighed and returned to his serum, "It's a bit more complicated than that, but, yes – I do need to follow protocol. Your arm, please?" He said and reached for her hand. "Since this is a human/Starchild mating session. We don't have to inject you with the entire cocktail. Red, for relax. Indigo for inhibitions… you won't have to worry about a thing."_

_**What's that purple one for? **__She asked. He lifted the needle and prepared to inject himself with it. __**That one's for you?**_

"_Violet for virility. This helps to make sure we make a baby," he said. She took a deep breath and began to slowly undress. The serum might take a moment to take effect, but she hoped to get this over with as soon as possible. She laughed to herself, with a bit of disgust in her chest as she thought about the fact that she had only dreamed of having such a moment with Sam, before… but not like this. Never like this. The tears started and she covered what she could of herself with her arms and hands, knowing that they were watching. Sam had gotten undressed as well, and made his way towards the bed._

_**Danica. **__Hearing him call her that drew in all of her attention and she went to him, meeting him in that place and got into the small bed with him. It was not very comfortable, but she looked into his eyes and she let everything else slip away into a part of her mind that she wouldn't return to. She would simply focus on him, and not look back. She would just focus on him and do what she had to do._

_ Neither of them had any idea what would happen when they came together this way. It was like they went elsewhere. Neither of them was in this room, but in a palace, surrounded by lights and sparkles. She looked up at him and saw her dream image of him. And she felt… his energy. She understood, now. She knew. She knew everything. She remembered everything. "__EOSPHOROS!" She suddenly called out and he smiled against her lips. He had never heard her say that in real life, only in his dreams. It was what they called him when he dreamed. It was what he believed his name truly was. _

_This was not the first time that they had done this. He felt it, in his loins. This was simply them doing this, in different bodies. She felt herself seem to leave her body and be inside of his and he felt the same. What was happening? Their energies – everything that made them who they were was switching. They were literally having an "outer body experience," and experiencing this act in one body, then the next. When they were done, they simply held each other. __**You're one of us. **__She thought. __**You're… you're…**_

_**I'm yours; **__he completed the thought and kissed her temple. __**I remember everything, now. I understand everything. Something went wrong and we all forgot what happened, but now that you and I know – we can fix all of this. **__He sat up and looked towards the glass, but when he was about to begin, she grabbed his hand and told him, "No! This is not the time."_

_**What do you mean? **__He looked at her and reached for his clothes._

_**I would have to give you the orb. We'll need the others surrounding you to do it… and we'll have to… Sacrifice. **__She stirred as well and reached for her own clothing. __**And, if we've just conceived, neither of us is fit for that type of energy, right now. These bodies generally take 9 months for the child to be born. We've waited this long, we can wait a bit longer. **__She zipped up her jumpsuit and rushed to hug and kiss him._

_**I don't want to wait another minute. They've kept you prisoners. They've abused you. Killed some of us… I know who I am, now.**_

_**I'm not releasing this orb until it's safe. That's why you entrusted it to me – because you knew how impulsive you can be. It's as safe as it always was. **_

_**Several of the others are going through what we were going through – dreaming of who they are, wondering what happened. We need to free them, to give them back their identities.**_

_**And we will! As soon as we know that our heir is safe and we have all of them gathered around. I promise you, I will not release this orb until it's safe to do it. **__The door opened and the guards grabbed her. Sam's fists clenched and his jaws tightened. "You don't have to be so rough with her," he told them as they took her away. He snatched his lab coat up, angrily and went into the next room, "Everything should be good to go. I'm taking the rest of the day off."_

_No one questioned him or commented. He took a trip to their stomping grounds and went to the painting. Carmen came into the room and asked, "Are you alright?" He sighed and turned to look at her. "What happened?" She asked, worried by the anguish on his face._

"_I remember everything. So does she. WE were supposed to protect them. They trusted us to guide them and we got them caught. Now, we both know what to do, but the next step is hers and she refuses to do it, right now," he said._

"_Why does she refuse?" Carmen asked._

"_She was put into the mating cage today. She's possibly pregnant. She'll need her energy to help her with the process. We… we don't procreate the way that you do. We don't do anything the way that you do. These bodies are… They're like shells to contain our energy."_

"_We're the same way. Some people call our energy a soul… But, that doesn't make our bodies any less real or necessary."_

"_We designed these bodies as human versions of our bodies from home. We were getting away from some things… we may have gotten into something worse," he sat down in a chair in front of the painting. "That's what her body really looks like. The version that you know of her is one that humans can see. If a human looked at her while she looked like that, they would be blinded. She would just look like a bright light to them. We can see each other, but you would not have been able to stand it. We made these bodies for your sake."_

"_So… now that you can remember everything, why are you guys here? Not to take over? Not to declare war?" She asked, though she never thought for a moment that they were and presumed that even if they had been, that they had long since given up on that desire._

"_No relinquish control, so that we wouldn't have to continue war," he said sadly. "Our kingdoms… They were at war, but we were in love. We didn't want to marry someone else and perpetuate war against each other, but we've always been taught that our war is necessary for the balance of the universe." He smiled sadly and shook his head, "My universe revolved around her." Carmen rested a hand on his shoulder and he touched it, allowing it to slightly comfort him. "Only nine more months, though – right. I can hold out for nine more months."_

"_Of course you can, Sam. You're the strongest being that I have ever met."_

Mercedes was coming to as Sugar was pushing the wheelchair down a dark road. "Sugar?" She said, softly.

"Don't waste your energy, Your Highness. You've spent a lot of it on that takeover. Now, you have drugs in your system, too. You need to rest. I'll take you some place where you can rest and receive more energy. Somewhere that they won't ration your food to keep you at your weakest. We're almost there. Have you heard from the Prince?"

"Yes… Sugar… I still can't remember, but… didn't you serve _me? _Shouldn't your loyalties be to _me?"_ Mercedes asked her.

"Your Highness, the moment that you and Prince Eosphoros married, I became a dedicated servant to him, as well. He can remember everything. You can't. It's safest for all of us for me to follow his command," Sugar explained.

"How much do you remember?" Mercedes wondered.

"I remember everything," Sugar said. "Your bodyguards were designed to keep the information on record. I am your guard. I make you invisible. I make you intangible. Well… I can't really do it as well as I will be able to once you get your memory back, but that's what I was SUPPOSED to be able to do."

"Who is Sam's bodyguard?" Mercedes asked.

"Jesse," Sugar answered. "We'll be with him, soon. You just rest."

_The laboratory was full of people and Starchildren. Sam and Mercedes kept throwing each other small smirks and jolts of energy through their minds. Life was so much better, so much easier to endure now that they had each other and knew each other. There were only three more months before their daughter would be born and their people would escape to the place that Sam had prepared for them. With all of the others, they could fortify it and live in peace until they had the means to escape this god-awful planet, or simply, _until… _Whatever they decided._

_Emma, Shelby and April were touching fingertips and trying to harness each others' powers. It was a test that had been ongoing for a while, now. Dr. Stanley was working on this, on that day. Artie was basically assisting one of the other doctors (as he was thought to be powerless, at the time), with checking on Mercedes' baby's vitals. It was routine testing and while Sam desperately wished he could be next to her, holding her hand and such – the father's identity was supposed to be secret and even if it hadn't be, he wasn't supposed to care about it beyond scientific purposes. Mercedes and Artie were both strumming their hands over her bump and he smiled. "Is she singing?" He asked. Mercedes' womb was glowing and all of the Starchildren could hear this soft voice, singing._

"_I think that she is!" Mercedes cheered and looked up at Sam, happily. He smiled brightly and began to make his way in that direction. _

"_I can't do it!" He heard Sean snap at one of the nurses, "Deactivate it!" He begged. _

_The woman sighed and said, frustrated, "I am trying!"_

"_Is it a real bomb?" He asked._

"_It causes a small explosion, no worse than a firecracker," she said. You could hold it in your hand when it goes off," she mocked, trying to disengage it. Sean was supposed to be stopping the time on a small, handmade bomb, but he was not being very successful at it. It was a small bomb, like the nurse said, no more dangerous than a firecracker… but the room was filled with all of that extra energy from the Starchildren, particularly Mercedes' energy. Sam had not granted permission for such a test. _

"_Sean, get that out of here," he ordered, in his commanding voice. _

_The Starchild snatched the thing from the nurse and rushed towards the exit, while Sam tried to make his way to Mercedes. He could teleport them out and stop time to make sure that she safely escaped… but that didn't happen. Sean was just passing Artie and Mercedes when the bomb went off… at the worse possible place – right next to the greatest source to fuel the explosion. Sam shielded himself and rushed towards her. Sean and been blown across the room. April, Shelby and Emma had been knocked down. Artie's body was bent in half and his legs were smoldering and Mercedes… Sam rushed to her. _

_Her eyes were wide open and she looked like she was in shock, but she was conscious. "No, no…" She muttered and held herself. _

"_It's okay," Sam tried to promise her, placing his hand on her abdomen as he called for help. The rescue team would be on its way, but there was a very large and sharp object sticking out of her body and the light inside was dying down. "You'll be okay, Danica."_

"_She's not alright. Oh… she's… she's going into the well. I can feel it…" She said, sadly. When the light stopped altogether, illuminated tears fell from Mercedes' eyes and Sam had to fight extremely hard not to let them fall from his own, as well. The baby was going to have a voice related ability. She would probably be able to sing away pain and sorrow, or to sing it to be. Maybe she would sing someone into submission. Maybe she would simply have the gift that she passed on to her mother, when her energy went into the orb, as she died… sonic scream. Mercedes let out the first loud cry that she ever did and it was fortunate on that day that they were already in devastation. _

_Sam's eardrums were busted by the sound and his eyes widened. There were no sonic screamers on file, so he knew that had been their daughter's gift and he pulled Mercedes into an embrace, to try to console her. She wasn't dead. That was the best thing. He still had her… but he didn't realize at the time, that he didn't. It broke her. When she let out that scream, she released all of the anguish that this moment caused her. She would not remember it. She didn't WANT TO remember it. She didn't want to remember any of it, and she would not, until she was ready to, or until something naturally triggered it. _

_ They removed the sharp object and admitted her into the infirmary. They removed the girl from her and Sam volunteered to "properly dispose" of it, which meant that he made arrangements and had her buried in their special area. When Mercedes awoke, he was there, "Hey. I know that you're still sad and that it hurts, but we have to do this now. Gather them all up, I'll help you with the details and you release the orb. We're leaving. I can't take another minute in this damned place." Her eyes widened and she sat up and stared at him._

"_Um… you must be new," she said. "I'm Mercedes, Doctor. What happened?" His heart fell, no, sank. He cleared his throat and fought off the tears. How could she not remember him? After everything, how could she not? But, she was still volatile. He didn't want to accidentally harm her by trying to force the information back into her._

"_Um… Actually, I've been here for the past couple of years. I'm Dr. Sam Evans, and you suffered from the effects of a laboratory explosion, which seems to have affected your short term memory. What is the last thing that you remember?" He asked._

"_I… don't … know," she said. "It's like I only went to sleep and woke up and now you're telling me that two years have passed."_

"_Do you remember meeting me?" He asked, choking back tears._

"_No, but I take it that it was an emotional time," she said with a chuckle. "Don't worry, Sam. I'm sure that my memory will come back and we can have a good old walk down memory lane." He froze and stared at her. "What is it?"_

"_You called me, Sam," he told her._

"_Sorry. Bad habit."_

"_No… call me Sam. We're friends, _Danica." _He told her. Now, she froze and looked at him like he was the oddest thing in the world._

"_Um… My name is Mindwhisper. But, all the humans call me Mercedes," she said. Something stirred in her when she heard that name. She couldn't explain it, but there was pain mingled in that stirring and she didn't want to explore it. _

Mercedes gasped and she covered her face with both hands. "Oh my GOD!" She cried out.

"My Princess?" Sugar said, pushing her towards a certain building.

Mercedes got up out of the chair and pushed the door open. When she entered the building, there were others there. She saw the one called Sightgift and remembered her face from the other time. She looked over at the humans present, then at Carmen and she rushed to the woman and collapsed onto her shoulder, crying, "Oh my God!" She repeated. What she had just learned from Sam had been so painful to hear, but the most painful part was that she knew he wasn't lying, but she still couldn't remember. That was the most hurtful part. How does one forget the love of her life, and her own child? Why couldn't she make herself remember it all? Remember who she was?

Carmen helped her to sit, while the other SIDs present quickly shuffled around, trying to accommodate her and serve her. She saw the painting hanging up on the wall and she sighed. "Can I see where she's buried?" She asked.

"Yes, but not tonight," Carmen told her. "Right now, you should get washed up and changed… then, we'll let you get some rest. You've had a hard night. Sugar," Carmen said an Sugar nodded once and retrieved her princess, to take her where she could freshen up and get settled.

Rachel said, quietly, "When she came in, the baby leaped in my womb."

"Of course. She's our Savior. She's going to rescue us all," Sightgift said.

Carmen folded her arms and looked at Jesse, who was settled in, next to Rachel, on a couch. "Let Sam know that she made it here, safely. We'll wait for further instructions from him."


	11. War in the Heavens

_**First off – I want to apologize for the late/spaced out reviews. For those not following me on tumblr, or not that familiar with me – I have a history of war with depression and anxiety and have recently been going through a pretty bad depression, so I haven't been able to write as I would have wanted to for all of you; but, I promise that I'm doing my best…**_

_Someone asked for a pronunciation of Sam's true name. I'm unsure of exactly how to pronounce it, because I couldn't find anything that gave me a proper breakdown of it. _

_BUT, I will tell y'all where I got their names from, even though he is NOT the mythological one, but just another character that I've named after him…_

_**Sam - EOSPHOROS**__ (Εωσφόρος): Greek name meaning "dawn-bringer" or "light-bringer." In mythology, this is another name for Phosphoros (sometimes translated as __Lucifer__ in Latin), a son of __Eos__, one of the gods of the evening star Venus, the other being __Hesperos__. They were later combined into one god._

_**Mercedes - DANICA**__: Biblical female name meaning Morning Star/ __**THAQIB**__ : Indian name meaning Shooting Star_

_I wanted one of them to represent the evening star, and one to represent the morning star, for poetic purposes, seeing that there is war between their kingdoms __**(even though they are NOT any previous mythical entities.) **__And to keep down confusion in the dream state, I used the names that we're all familiar with for the characters present, though there are their natural names used a few times._

_**Shane – SHIHAB: **__Arabic name meaning "meteor; shooting star"_

_**Quinn – HESTER: **__English female name meaning "star_

_**Sugar – ASTER: **__Greek female name meaning "star"_

_This chapter might be a little confusing. When it's Italics, it's in their old world. _

_When it's not, it's their present time on Earth._

_If it's still confusing, after that, PM me and I'll try to make it clearer, because my brain is in some kind of place right now and I truly don't know how well I articulated what I wanted the chapter to say._

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**War in the Heavens**

**The Starchildren**

Sam opened his eyes and saw Quinn and Noah, standing side by side, with their arms folded. He glanced to his left and saw Will Schuester, bound and gagged and realized for the first time, that _he _was, as well. He tried to smile beneath the uncomfortable mouth gear, but it didn't really work. Quinn and Noah were speaking quietly amongst themselves, while the others seemed to be waiting instruction. They were surrounded and Sam noticed that someone had brought Sean to the party, too.

"The best idea that I can think of is for Sean to rewind time to see what happened. If he says that he didn't do it, then we need to find out who did," Quinn said. Sam looked at Sean and sent him a message. _Do not cooperate with her. _Sean's head turned towards Sam, but he didn't react beyond that. Quinn marched over to Sean and said, "Rewind time so that we can know what happened to Mindwhisper."

"I can't," He said.

Puck, seriously angered produced a long sharp rod and held it to Sean's neck, "We aren't playing with you, Dude. Rewind the time so we can see what happened to her!"

Sean chuckled and said, "Even if I wanted to help you, after you all were just going to leave me here, I couldn't. My body only operates from the neck up. I don't have enough substance to fully use my ability. I get my nutrients through a tube and they basically are just enough to keep me alive."

"Then, why are you alive?" Puck asked.

"Because nobody's killed me," he said.

Quinn lifted an eyebrow and used her special voice, "Rewind time," she told him. His nose began to bleed. Puck grabbed Quinn's shoulders and pulled her away. "He can't do it," she said. He's trying, but he's being blocked…" She looked around the room and said, "Either someone else here can do what I can do, or Whisper's forcing him not to cooperate. But why would she do that unless she means to be gone?" Quinn was absentmindedly rubbing circles over her belly. She snapped her fingers at Wade and said, "I need you to tell me where she is, now."

After a moment, he answered, "A place that I don't understand."

"What do you mean?" Quinn wondered.

"She's… I think she's in a dream. She's surrounded by light and…" He paused, then shook his head, "I'm being shoved out of her consciousness."

"Someone has her," Quinn said. "Puck, assemble a team. We need to find out where she is and what they want with her."

Puck looked around the room, "Fleet – need you to go to where they're keeping all of the SID's that they found were in hiding and release them and Mr. Multiples, you bring them here," he said, pointing at Rory, who simply looked confused. Puck asked him, "You are the multiple guy, aren't you?" Rory took a deep breath, suddenly very aware of everyone looking at him and he nodded.  
Good. Get those guys in here." Santana and Rory made their way out of the courtyard.

Quinn was glaring at Sam, "You know where she is, don't you?" She asked. "I don't know what it is about you, but you have always rubbed me the wrong damned way." Sam dared her to challenge him. At this point, he still didn't want to blow his cover, just in case this was a failed attempt of escape, but she really pushed his buttons… she always had.

Puck scanned the room some more and told Quinn, "Those two are gonna be on the team. I want to take Lifeline, but I think he should stay here with you, just in case."

"No, absolutely not. He should go with you, in case someone on the team gets hurt. You can take Fleet and the multiplier, I also think you should take Sebastian."

"He's a shapeshifter, he can't fight."

"I'm willing to!" Sebastian said, loudly. Aphasia, standing next to him looked worried and Joe watched her tense up as Sebastian went towards Puck and Quinn.

"Are you alright?" Joe asked her. She rolled her eyes at him and turned her back to him. He sighed. Since that day, when he had almost taken her journal away from her, he felt bad and she seemed to hate his guts. He continued walking, towards Quinn, as he had somehow ended up being one of those included in her direct net.

"I can help," Shelby said, trembling, though she was now dry. She was still in that Fifth Element looking garment that they had the Graeae wrapped in.

"You should rest," Quinn suggested.

"I've rested for the past 8 years. I should use everything I have to get revenge. I can sense powers. I could be the watchdog of the team," Shelby said, her pale, blinded eyes staring at nothing in front of her.

"I want her," Puck said, with a nod. Quinn sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Lifeline, are you able to fix their problem?" He asked Blaine.

"I don't know," he said and reached out towards Shelby's head, but she stopped him.

"No. I want the first thing that I ever see, if anything is Will Schuester dying. I can manage just fine without my eyesight." Sam looked over at Will. Will looked like he was trying to formulate a plan. _Good luck with that. _

"I volunteer," Matt said. "It was my ability that Mindwhisper used to free the Graeae."

Puck said, "I feel like I should open some auditions, or something."

On the screen, Jesse's face appeared, and he was laughing, "Actually, none of that will be necessary. I have issued a lockdown at the facility, sent word to Sue's superiors that the situation is being handled, and Whisper is here, with us." Sugar waved at the computer, from the background. Tina was leaning forward with her hands on her knees. Jesse looked over at Sam, who simply winked at him, when no one was looking, then back at Quinn. "Try not to kill anyone and we'll do whatever we can to make sure that all of you are moved from there to here."

Quinn titled her head and asked him, "What is it that you do again?"

"Oh, I never got around to telling you!" He said, cheerfully. One of the other screens went into the takeover mode and began to air an episode of Misfits.

Puck gasped and said, "That's YOU?"

"I communicate with computers," Jesse said, with a humble shrug. "I promise, we haven't abandoned you. We just need a little time to help you all get out. In the meantime, I need all the leaders to make sure that you have a portable computer on you, at all times, so that we can keep up communication."

Puck said, "Easy, we took them from the doctors."

"Good. Tomorrow, I'll try to get Mindwhisper to address everyone. All of you should make sure that there are no free humans in the building who might escape. Put them in the cells, put them in binds. That's your first step. The building is on lockdown, but you should check the area to see if anyone got out before then. Switch clothes with them, if you have to. Be sure to address each floor. I will open contact with command as soon as we're clear. Sebastian – we'll need you to emulate Director Sylvester, for that call." Sebastian nodded his head once.

"Thank you so much, Red King," Puck said.

Jesse's image changed so that he was a bright red color and he said, "You're not going to die down here." He smiled and disappeared from the screen.

Puck clapped once then said, "You heard him. Team – let's get changed up and go make sure nobody's gotten outside."

**The Heavens:**

_ Mercedes woke up in a room, surrounded by light and climbed out of bed. When she did, she kissed a flower on her nightstand, quickly got dressed, and rushed out of her room down a long, elegant hallway to the court. She hurried inside, and Quinn glanced at her and pinched Sugar. The two ladies joined hands and went to gather their princess. Each latched on to an arm and pulled her to where they were all looking at the small court. She looked at the game piece that represented her kingdom and those behind it and the one that represented his and those behind it. She looked up at him, but his concentration remained on the board, as the woman to his side, kept her arm locked in his. She frowned at Brittany, but Brittany did not even notice. She was too busy watching him._

_He was beautiful. He was the most beautiful prince ever produced. She glanced over at her own suitor – the one that she would marry. While he was quite pleasant and fulfilled duties nobly, she was unsure if she felt anything for him. She wasn't especially attracted to him. He was a large man, of wide stature and tall. He held tremendous power and was gracious, but her energy never peaked the way that it did when she saw Sam. _

_Her parents always told her that emotion for him was not necessary to reign. All that they needed to do was to agree with one another, to share energies, and to combine energies for an heir. Sam looked at her suitor and tried not to flip the entire table over. He was losing to him on the board, which meant that battles were being fought and lives were being lost, for his name's sake, yet he could do nothing about it... and now, she was here to see his failure; to see him bested once again by her future husband. Sam frowned as Mercedes collected her dress in her hands and went to stand behind her fiancé. He turned to smile at her and her face brightened. "Are you winning?" He heard her ask._

"_In war, no one ever truly wins," he answered. _

_She sighed and looked down at the board. They were winning. Their wars were fought by armies being dispatched and under the direct leadership of one of the princes or one of his trusted ones. The king and queen would sit on their thrones, in their palaces and open a doorway beneath them, so that they could look down upon the table from their throne rooms and monitor the performance of their kingdoms' champions. The princes or generals would be at the table, in one of the kingdom courts, using only telepathy to issue commands and a model on the table with game pieces, which represented the army and people fighting in it. It was literally like a game and war at the same time. _

_After a while, the board went dark, the pieces slid into the board and an orb emerged from the center of the table. Victory belonged to her and she rubbed her suitor's arm with affection, and whispered some of her energy into his ear (the closest equivalent of a kiss on Earth… but much more significant.)_

"_WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU, EOSPHORUS." The loud, combined voices of his parents spoke from their unseen thrones. He kneeled down on the floor and the rest of his allies with him._

"_I am sorry that I have failed you, my King and Queen," he said. The clouds went dark above him. His King and Queen had shut the doorway in their throne room and were no longer looking upon his performance. When he rose, his opponent held out the empty orb towards him. Sam removed a necklace from his neck, which had on it pendants to represent several areas of his kingdom. He held it over the orb and lowered it, as the orb glowed, the necklace went into it and the victor presented it to Mercedes._

"_Princess, as your suitor and champion, I present to you yet another victory, as a special gift to your kingdom and your honor," he said. _

"_Very well. Please, extend your offering where it is due," She replied. As he walked over to her parents' unseen thrones, he lifted the orb and it rose like a lantern and appeared to become a part of the glowing clouds. It rose upward, through the doorway and its energy filled the well from which the kingdom thrived. "Now the energy of these has been submitted to my kingdom." She folded her hands and approached Sam. "Join me for a walk around the grounds," she said. "Just the two of us."_

_Quinn immediately stepped in front of her and asked, "Do you think that to be wise, My Princess?"_

"_I think it to be my decision, and you are out of line." Mercedes continued walking, and Sam fell in step with her. _

_As the two walked on, Quinn looked at Sugar and nodded once. Sugar became as a vapor and remained with the princess while Quinn approached Mercedes' suitor, "Is this becoming of the man who is to become the king of our great kingdom, Prince Shihab? To allow my princess and future queen to vacate your presence with our sworn enemy?"_

"_The prince has just lost in battle. He would never dream of starting a war on our own territory, and would surely be destroyed if he tried. He is a politician. The royal families understand that. You, handmaiden, obviously do not, and I will not warn you about your treasonous tone again." He frowned and sidestepped from her to watch his fiancée and the opposing prince walking onward._

**The Sanctuary**

Mercedes awoke from her dream and saw Sugar resting near her, Sightgift was resting across the room. They obviously were guarding her. She obviously was even more important than she thought. Sugar stirred shortly after she did and smiled as she practically jumped up. "Good morning, Sugar," she said, not knowing what else to say.

"Good morning, Princess!" Sugar cheered. She folded her hands over herself and wondered, "Do you need food? I already have another change of clothes for you." Mercedes glanced down at the night gown that she wore, then over at the sundress that Sugar had for her to wear today. She hadn't had changes of clothes since she was a small child, and it was uniforms. She got up to get into the dress. "I hope that the racing thoughts of the others haven't kept you from getting rest. Everyone's kind of excited to have you here. For the past several years that you've been without your memory, we've been waiting on you to get it back."

"Did the SIDs know about me?" She wondered.

"Only so much. They didn't know where you were, just that you are the answer to our problems."

"I saw someone in my dream and I wonder if you can tell me about him. He was battling at this round stone table. It almost looked like an elaborate game of chest with far more pieces and…" Sugar's face winced in pain. "He was to be married to me and reign with me. He was a large, dark man, with a little mustache."

"Prince Shihab, of course. What is it that you wish to know about him?" She wondered.

"Where is he? Was he found? Is he alive?" She wondered.

Sugar chuckled and shook her head, "My Princess, Prince Shihab would not have come with us on this journey. You disregarded the destiny that your parents sorted out for you and him when you married Prince Eosphorus, and ran away."

"But… But, in my dream, Brittany was on the arm of Sam. She was set to be his mate and she's here, with us."

"She never wanted to be a queen. She never wanted to be his mate, but it had been planned out for her and she had been trained to do so. She was elated when her Prince relieved her of such a burden, but if she would have stayed, her parents simply would have suited her with another Prince, when they raised another heir. So, she came with us. Most of us had either something to escape, or someone important enough to follow. Which reminds me… You may want to address Dominance and the others. Jesse did last night, but I think that it might be good for them to hear from you."

"I want to visit the gravesite before I do anything else," Mercedes said.

"_You played a good game," Danica said._

_Eosphorus replied, "I lost the fight, and because of it, my parents are ashamed, many of my people are dead and they have lost everything." She gave him a sympathetic look. She had lost battles before and while her parents were not nearly as harsh as his were, she understood that feeling of defeat and shame._

"_Nothing is ever truly lost, Prince," she said. She stopped and dug her hands into the ground beneath herself, gathering stardust into her hands, "Those whom you say died have in fact sacrificed themselves so that stars may live. And that essence inside of them, why – it is not gone, but returned from whence it came. It is a great honor to all of our kind to feed the stars and pour into the well. Only those of us left behind ever find flaw in such an event." She held out the stardust to him and he cupped his hands for her to pour it into. Then, she placed her hands beneath his and poured in her energy, through glowing hands. The dark dust became light colored and he watched her as she glowed, then smiled up at him. "If ever you miss one that has submitted into the well, you need not search any further to see them than the universe." _

_She thought about the flower that rested on her nightstand. She had grown it out of the stardust from her brother's burial ground. When her brother perished in battle, his body was brought back to her palace and she fell on top of it, sad to see him gone, and heavily burdened with the fact that she would now be expected to rise to the throne, in his stead. Though she missed him greatly, having her flower there always reminded her of the fact that he loved her and would be proud to call her his sister._

_When she let go of the prince's hands, he allowed the golden stardust to fall to the ground and he placed his hands behind his back, "You are very wise, Princess. You're as wise as you are stunning. When you reign over this kingdom and I over mine, you'll be quite formidable. It almost worries me to oppose you." Her cheeks glowed with the 'blushing' of her face. The energy inside of her threatened to pour out in luminous rivers. "Why is it that each time we go to battle in one of our courts, it is your betrothed who takes the table? I have much looked forward to a battle against you, since the first time we ever met, as children."_

"_As you know, I was not the first heir to our throne. My elder brother was and he fought in battle… A battle that I commanded, in his absence. We won the battle, but lost our prince. I have not been comfortable taking the table, since that time. However, it works out, as it is the King's wish that the suitor that has been chosen is capable of being king. Therefore, my betrothed takes the table, and from what I have seen, he is quite capable." She smirked._

"_Do __**you**__ think that he is a suitable mate for you?" Sam asked._

"_Wisdom would not have me indicate a future based upon hypotheticals," she said._

"_Then, if you had your wish… Is he the Prince of your dreams?" Sam wondered._

"_Perhaps if you dreamt less and focused more on reality, he would not best you so," She suggested, smiling and avoiding the question._

"_Hmm… beautiful and wise, but not very kind…"_

"_Kindness is not a trait befitting of a queen towards her enemy. Some would say not very befitting of a queen, at all. I am sure by your recent humiliation from your own King and Queen that you can attest to such a belief." Sam frowned and tried not to look away as she made him feel embarrassed. "Make no mistake, Prince – I know how to be civil and polite to you, as we will sit on thrones one day, looking out at the other, with a screen that shows us our children at the table, continuing the balance of all things…" She stepped closer to him looking up into his eyes and speaking sternly, "But, I know where my heart lies."_

"_Does it lie with your betrothed?" He asked._

"_It lies with my people," She said._

"_Are your people not the same as my people?" He asked._

"_Yes, but when I said my people, I meant my kingdom." She placed her hands behind her back and told him, "You will make a great king. Your Princess probably is not as well suited for her throne as I am, but – throne room gatherings for battle should be exciting." She laughed and glanced back towards Brittany, who seemed oblivious to them as she spoke with Santana, her handmaiden._

"_She and I grew up together. She's fit for a queen, although she has no desire to reign. It isn't as though our rulers give us any choice. You understand. If you had the choice, would you have chosen him?" Sam nudged his head at her mate and she let out a laugh, then covered her mouth. _

"_If I had the choice, my brother would still walk amongst us and the two of __**you**__ could play politics while my maidens and I adorned ourselves to distract our opponents from the table," she said. "And my brother's wife could have the duties of a queen while I danced barefoot in the stardust and watched the universe be perfect." She smiled. "I once was a dreamer, to, Prince."_

"_There is no reason to stop. Duty and destiny do not always align," he said._

_Quinn came to retrieve her princess from the prince and announced, "The Prince's royal escort is prepared to bring him back to his kingdom." She glared at him and he gave her a sassy smirk as he backed away._

"_The pleasure has been mine, Princess. Hopefully, you will approach the table again. I look forward to seeing you in action," he said, then boldly stepped forward and whispered energy into her ear. "Until next time," he said. Quinn looked horrified at the fact that he had put his energy anywhere NEAR her Princess. She quickly cut him off to challenge him to a duel of energies. "Don't be foolish. Your energy is no match for mine."_

"_Your honor is no match for mine!" She told him._

"_Hester! Stand down!" Mercedes ordered. __**He would destroy you and I have no desire to only know your presence in the well. **__Quinn glared at Sam and stormed off in a huff. Sam watched her leave, amused and he glanced at Mercedes, who was everything but. He would make it up to her. These battles would continue and their walks would continue and he was determined… he didn't give a damn about the war or about his duties. His destiny was inside of that woman's energy. He would never let another have her._

Mercedes stared at the strange bouquet of flowers in her hands. They were… like the flower that she had in her dream, on her nightstand. She rested on her knees and placed the bouquet down as she read the stone.. It was made from meteor remains from the storm, but beautifully sculpted and she glanced around to see that there were others… They obviously had found and laid to rest all of the deceased Starchildren. The number of gravestones depressed her. She… _she_ was supposed to protect them. The tears were already beginning. "Thuraya… That's a pretty name. I wish that I had been awarded the opportunity to call you that," she said as she set the flowers down.

She was on her knees and placed both of her hands on the gravestone, "Everything is confusing, but I know that I must have loved you, even before you were fully formed. I know that I would have loved you. If I had been a better Princess, a stronger force, you would be here. You would be eight and I am sure that you would be beautiful…" Mercedes held her own chest and felt something moving inside of her. Something was flowing through her blood and she felt overheated and anxious.

She stood up, but quickly fell to her knees again, in pain as her nose began to bleed and her heart began to beat. _**Stop fighting it. **_That was Sam… She took deep breath and looked forward, attempting not to suppress whatever was now happening to her body. The energy… It began pouring through her blood stream and rushing through her brain. She fell backwards and Sugar gasped and rushed towards her… but was kept away by a glowing force field, that surrounded the entire grave.

"_Aster, quickly – before the King finds us!" Mercedes said to Sugar. Sugar held her princess' hand and led her into the room of orbs. Mercedes sighed and approached a particular one. It had been from the "Time of Harmony" – the time before the war. Her family kept it a hidden legend, but when she picked it up and handed it to her handmaiden, with both of their hands on it, it became a glowing light and Sugar pushed it deep into her chest and withdrew her hands. "We have to meet with the others. My father is sure to realize that it has been stolen, very soon." She grabbed the maiden's hand and Sugar rushed them away – to meet the others. To make their escape._

Sugar's hands were glowing red as she tried to penetrate the force field to reach Mercedes, but as she attempted to break through the barrier, her hands simply were continuously burning. She winced as Tina pulled her away and said, "I think that she is doing it." Sugar watched as Mercedes lay on the ground, seemingly suffocating, until she was no longer breathing.

"No!" She cried out and tried to break through, again. "She's dying. This is a self-destruction field!"

"You can't get through it," Tina told her, sadly. "I suppose we'll never be saved…" There was a blinding light and what appeared to be an explosion inside of the force field, which made Sugar shriek. Then, it was gone and Mercedes lay there, lifeless… dead… Sugar rushed over to her and gathered her in her arms, "Get Carmen! Get Jesse! Get Dr. Berry!" She cried, collecting her princess, "Don't do this princess! Oh, please, don't be dead!"

_ Jesse delivered the oil lamp to his Prince and informed him, "It has the essence of all of our travelers. Her maiden Aster was able to collect from each passenger." Sam smiled and collected it from him. Jesse watched as Sam rushed to Mercedes and stood in front of her. She appeared to be nervous, but if Jesse were being honest, they ALL were nervous about what was to come. She and Sam interlocked their fingers and he pressed his forehead to hers._

"_Are you ready to do this?" She asked. He took a deep breath, shivering. "If you can't do it, I'm sure your second will…"_

"_No…" Sam said and removed a dagger from his robes. His hands were shaking, but she looked so brave as she stood before him. _

_She smiled softly and opened her robe. "It isn't like it's good bye. I'll feed the stars and my energy will go into a different well… and I'll be able to safely hold on to everyone else's energy."_

_Jesse interjected, "Sire, I have designed the shells that our energies will be converted to as similar to our forms as possible." Sam nodded and quickly drove the dagger into her belly. He backed away from her and watched as she leaned back, glowing tears from her eyes and her energy becoming a dim light inside of her. She fell backwards and rose into the air, with her arms outstretched and a light coming forth from her chest. The orb floated out of and above her body and her body fell to the ground and the stardust began to swallow it up, just as the table would swallow the game pieces after a battle. Sam reached for the orb and held it while he watched the stardust devour his wife and fell the glow brightening in the orb. Her energy had moved inside of it._

_ He poured the glowing liquid that was in the lamp into the top of the orb and handed it over to Sugar. She sighed and placed the orb inside the small brown body of an infant. Jesse watched, intrigued. When she had finished, with the orb inside of the little shell body, it gasped and opened its eyes. Sugar smiled and collected the now breathing baby. "Don't worry, Princess. You're safe." She cradled the baby to herself as they got inside of the ship, where the others were. _

_Jesse checked all of the systems and verified that each infant was in rest mode, properly secured in its pod and ready for flight. Their transitions had been much easier. They transferred a portion of their energy into their infant shells and the rest into the lamp. Upon moving into the lamp, their bodies had been properly taken in by the star, as well. _

_Sugar's seat was next to Mercedes' and she and Sam transferred their energies, leaving Jesse as the last to do so, after being certain that everything on the ship was functional and the course was properly set. He transferred the last of his energy into his shell and his body was the only one that would have to simply become dust on the voyage of the ship. _

_**Controls override, **__Mercedes heard the computer say. She blinked her eyes and saw the computer screen. She didn't realize that she was looking through her pod with ex-ray vision and witnessing what was about to become a complete and utter atrocity. __**Manual voice override…**_

"_All passengers have been charged with treason and sentenced to execution. Self-destruct and disperse all pods from the ship," she heard a male's voice say. _

_Immediately she panicked, but she couldn't move or do anything. But, she felt Sam. He felt her panic and he began to awaken from his sleep. He began to age in his pod, preparing to come out of it and to check on things… but there was an explosion!_

Mercedes gasped and all of the color that had drained from her face returned as she sat up, suddenly, startling the mourning Sugar. Mercedes took some time to catch her breath, then pulled herself up from the ground. She shook her head and whispered, "They tried to kill us. We crashed because they wanted us dead for trying to leave."

"Pr…Princess?" Sugar said, softly.

When Mercedes looked at her, with brightly glowing skin and that old smile, Sugar rushed to meet her embrace. "It's me, Aster. It's Danica Thaqib." Sugar let go of her, crying, and fell on her face to bow before her. "Aster, you don't have to…" She looked around and saw Sightgift, Jesse, and the other SIDs all approaching to do the same. She took a deep breath and clasped her hands together. "Arise!" She commanded. "You are no longer my subjects, but my brethren!" She looked at Jesse and told him, " I'm ready to talk to the others, inside."


	12. Out of Your Minds

_So... um... there is character death coming up. Not like when Mercedes died and came back with her memory - but like dead and gone character deaths. You've been warned. Also, I happen to adore the lovely, dark skin Telisha Shaw and that's why I have no qualms pumping up the Aphasia character. Just saying, don't judge me. Also, for some reason, I can't seem to copy the format from Google Drive in the same way that I type it, so it gets effed up when I post and I am too lazy to try to reformat this whole thing, so, hopefully you can deal with it and if not, sorry that I'm too lazy. (Like stuff that was bolded/italicized doesn't come across that way when I put it here, so it might get confusing when there are thoughts verses aloud statements, but I'm not about to, sorry._

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S...**_

**Out of Your Minds**

She marched back towards the house, thinking about that time in the lab... She frowned and fought off tears. Now was no time to mourn. The time of mourning had come and gone. She didn't understand why he would allow her to remain in that state for so long! He obviously realized how to handle his abilities, even in this... she looked at her hands... lackluster body. It was designed closely to her old one - same skin color, same frame size, same height. Yet, it lacked so much. Her skin was not the same - it wasn't sparkling this body got scars. She strummed a hand over the marks on her wrists from months of being bound and shook her head. This place, this planet was a scar. How could he allow them to stay here?  
Jesse and Sugar were on either side of her, both of them talking, at the same time, knowing that she could hear both of them perfectly well. She froze and faced them both, "I need to speak with him," she said and watched as both of them seemed to try to figure out their correct response to her. "It's not a request."  
"We know. That's the problem, Your Majesty." Sugar said.  
Jesse included, "We haven't yet gotten them free. What if something goes wrong and we still need him on the inside? If you speak with him, it will blow his cover."  
"We don't need his cover," she said. With me and him together... we don't need a thing else to free the others." She turned and continued walking.  
Jesse quickly caught up to her, fell in step beside her and suggested, "I don't think that any of the others will be as understanding as you are about his SID status. Most of them were upset with me, and I was one of the "nice ones" to them. The Prince has had to make some tough and ugly calls that can be seen as unforgivable... ESPECIALLY if they learn his status among us."  
"Once again, it wasn't a request," she said and marched inside. "Jesse."

He quickly placed a hand on the main computer, which she sat in front of and the screen came on to reveal Quinn and Puck. They were talking and things looked crowded, but under control.  
"Dominance, what's the situation?" She asked.  
Quinn turned and looked at the screen and sighed, "Whisp - you're alright... Why do you look like that? What happened to you?" She asked.  
"My mind was woken up," she said, plainly and looked over in Sam's direction. She could see the smile behind the gag. "I remember everything. I KNOW everything."

Quinn sighed with relief and smirked at Puck, then leaned forward and asked, "Please, tell me that they're all going to die."  
Mercedes raised an eyebrow and finally turned back to Quinn, "A good number of them will. They won't just let us walk out and I'm not here for being a prisoner. It never should have happened for this long. I'm sorry that I failed you."  
Quinn's hand touched the screen and she said, "You didn't. There was nothing that any of us could have done."  
"Free Sam Evans. I'll send for him," Mercedes said.  
Quinn's faace furrowed and she glared at Sam. "Actually, Mindwhisper... I don't see that happening."  
"Wasn't a request," Mercedes told her. She pointed behind her at someone, seemingly randomly and said, "Retrieve him." The others in the room turned to look around, trying to see who she had pointed to. She turned her head and pointed right at nothing, "I am sending you," she said. Mike seemed to appear out of nowhere and she smirked. "Take your sister with you."  
Sightgift's mouth was wide open as she stared at Mike, who didn't even look at her as he said,"Surely you didn't think that I would actually be so easily left behind?" He rolled his eyes and headed fro the door. Sightgift sighed and slowly followed him.  
Mercedes looked at Quinn on the screen and said, "They're on their way to get him."  
Quinn nodded and said, "Okay, then." She frowned and shut off the computer, then looked to Puck and whispered, "Kill him."  
He nodded, "I agree completely."  
"He's a weakness for her and we can't trust him," Quinn tried to explain her direct disobedience.  
"You don't have to feel the need to justify yourself to me. Babe - you and I are always in tune to each other," Puck answered, and without a second thought, he swung a hand in Sam's direction, ready to obliterate him with a massive onslaught of jagged stones... When they all hitt the floor where Sam had been Puck cussed. "Damn it! Where did he go? Who the hell is helping him?"  
Quinn blinked her eyes and looked around. Sean and Susie were both missing. "Timestopper and teleporter," she said. She balled her fists up and pointed at Wade, "Find them." She pointed at Santana, "Kill them."

Sam smirked when he heard Quinn say the words. She had not changed at all. Quinn/Dominance was as much Hester as she had been the very first time he laid eyes upon her.  
"The women of your kingdom are known throughout the galaxy for their beauty," he told her.  
She smiled a polite, small smile and said, "I'm certain that you're far too intelligent to realize that because someone is known for something, that doesn't mean that it's all that they're good for."  
"Of course," he said and looked at Danica, in the distance. She was on a patch of stardust, with a long black, sparkling gown, draped nall around her as she rested on her knees, with a small pot, shoveling into it as a veil to match her dress covered her face. "Take your Princess, for instance. She recently took to the court for battleplay. She fought valiantly and expertly and yet - the results fared the eath of her only brother and heir to the throne..."  
"You mention that to suggest what, exactly, Prince?" Hester asked, glaring at him, now.  
"That I will need a moment of her time to determine whether this event was a strategic plot on her behalf to gain the thronw or a failure to preview her performance when she takes it, as she has now succeeded to rightful heir," he said, staring at the Princess as she stood, holding a pot with a budding flower. He noticed that the ground beneath her was the burial site of the Prince. Either, she intended to milk her mourning period for all to see, or her mourning was indeed deep and real.  
"Have you brought forth the servant that is to help her with this issue?" Hester asked, now annoyed and not wanting to discuss the Princess' battle any further.  
"Sheliak is here," he answered an lifted a strong hand towards one of his noblemen. Hester watched as (Mike) moved forward with a servant in chains and his soft head lowered. She frowned and shook her head as she rushed to him. "Release him," she ordered his keeper and Mike undid the chains on the young man. She cupped his face and smiled at him, "You are called Sheliak. Such a beautiful name." He slowly glanced up at her and stared at her with sad, blue eyes. "You're but a boy!" She said and glared at Eosphorus.  
The Prince gave her a bearded, crooked smile and warned her, "Do not be deceived. The boy is much more than that. He was the sacred weapon of General Orionus when he went into battle, during his days of victories." Eosphorus tugged on a collar around Sheliak's neck and told Hester, "Before I subdued him, he woudl enter into battle with that general and cause all of the soldiers of the opposing side to be stricken qith fear and despair, with simple concentration."  
"Mm hmm... but YOU do not use him in such a way," she said, in disbelief.  
"My heart is set upon battle. If I take to the battlefield, I appreciate the genuine emotion. If I take to the court, I appreciate the satisfaction of terrifying opposing forces with my army's might. This child is merely kept to keep his infectous tainting away from the battlefield." He released the collar and said, "But, when I was told of the Princess' problem, I quickly brought him here, to help."  
"And your price?" She asked.  
"What is your Princess' happiness worth?" He wondered.  
"To this kingdom, not much. Many of them blame her that her brother is dead."  
"And to YOU, what is it worth?" He wondered.  
Hester sighed and removed a necklace from her neck. "When I was a girl, I was a princess, myself. My kingdom was conquered and my identity was stifled." She fought off tears as she stretched her hand out. That was all that was left of her kingdom. It was all that she had to remind her of the time before she became a servant. If the princess' happiness was worth that to her...  
"Keep your trinket," he told her. He pressed the boy towards her and said, "This boy is worth more trouble than good. I would pay you to take him." He turned on the balls of his feet and Mike followed him.  
"Prince?" He said.  
"It is a gift from myself to the Princess," he said. "Her servant made it clear that she is worth it."  
"Yes, that much I understand. But, your subjects do not hold you in such esteem. That boy was the only thing keeping most of them fearful enough to follow you," Mike said, worried.  
Eosphorus turned and stared at Mike, instilling fear in him, as he did. "Do not ever make the mistake of suggesting that I need anyone to do my uties as ruler of my kingdom!"  
"My apologies, Sire," Mike said, with a frown. When they began walking again he took a deep breath. The fear hgad worn off. He had just realized... the Prince could do anything that the gifted ones surrounding him could!

Sheliak ate and was cleaned up, then he was brought into the Princess' chambers. She had been cleaned up and dressed in her nightclothes, all black an sparkling and she smiled softly at him when he entered, all dressed in bright white and gold and holding a harp. "I am told that you can help me to sleep," she said.  
"I can," he told her with a nod, then began to strum his harp. She sighed and looked at the budding flower next to her bed, tears creeping into her eyes. It was lovely music, but it only made her sad. It remined her that her brother would never hear lovely music again - that he would never know another song of beauty. "My Princess, if I may speak," the young man said. "Your brother has become a part of something even greater than himself. He has now fed the stars and made more room for more of us to exist. He has naturally gone into the cycle of the universe and while you may always think of him, I can assure you, you will cease to remember him in pain and will begin to remember him, only with fondness and love."  
"I will never be able to remember him, without pain," she said, the glowing tears finally freeing themselves from her eyes.  
"You shall," he said and with one touch, her pain was gone. She didn't feel particularly happy or even really relieved. "You will be relieved, after you've gotten some sleep and you will be happy after you've had time to get used to the peaceful acceptance." He strummed the harp, "I will not dishonor your brother by not allowing you to gradually move on, but I will not allow you to wallow in the feelings that I have picked up from you since the moment I stepped into this castle." He smiled and played the harp.  
"Thank you, Sheliak," she said and went to sleep.

Sam had stopped time. Susie jumped and looked around. "Why am I moving?" She asked, when she realized that she was.  
Sam's eyes peered into her and he commanded her, Unrestrain me. She moved to do exactly that and when he was freed, he dropped the restraints and looked at Sean. "I won't do to you what they were going to do, especially because you've had the only thing that you still had working to be injured by Dominance trying to force you to work." He told Susie, "Teleport out of here, to a place that I will show you. You take Sean there and both of you report to Jesse and stay there with him and the others." Susie nodded her head, still in somewhat of a daze. Sam touched Sean on the shoulder and said, "You tried to save my wife and child and are in this condition because of it. I'm sorry that I never thanked you for such a sacrifice."  
"You are my Prince," Sean said and glanced at Susie as she placed her hands on him, preparing to teleport to the others. Sam turned and walked out of the room, while Susie and Sean teleported. Sam heard Puck's upset as he himself used Susie's gift to leave the area, but not the building. He went into the secret area, unetected, of course and went to find some things.  
The top secret area hosted all of the remains from a certain ship. Sam entered it and locked the doors behind himself. He carried a bag inside and beagn to pack up a few things that were extremely relevant - things that the human scientists had no idea were. He packed his bag and grabbed a glass dome with a flower inside of it. Her brother's flower. He had preserved it for her that way when they married. He was placing it into the bag when his head began to hurt. Where are you?  
He blinked at Mercedes' violent intrusion, but packed his bag, anyway. "You're grl tried to kill me. I escaped and I made sure that Sean was brought to safety. I'm sure that you recognize him."  
Why didn't you come with them? She wondered.  
"With Quinn in charge, this building is likely to be destroyed. There were things here that needed to be retrived. There are things here that need to be salvaged!" He snatched Quinn's old necklace from a glass case and put it into the bag. "I promise you that I will see you as soon as I can," he told her.  
You will see me sooner than you think.  
"Do NOT come back here!" He fussed, but he felt the presence of a slew of Starchildren arrive on the campus. She must have used Susie's powers to get a gathering there with her. Damn it, Danica...

Mercedes marched up to Puck and slapped him across the face. He froze and stared at her. "Who told you to try to kill him?" She asked.  
"I didn't need much prompting. What's your problem? I thought you had your memory back! So, surely, you must remember how he drugged you, raped you and knocked you up a few years back?"  
"You don't know what you're talking about," she said.  
"Yeah - actually I do. Because, thanks to him - I know the feeling! I know what it's like to be drugged and forced to mate. I know what it's like to have breeding be an obligation and not a choice!" Puck fussed at her.  
Mercedes covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head. "What happened between he and I was nothing like what happened to you. I am sorry that they did that to you, Orionus. I am. But, I assure you, I was neither drugged nor forced to do a thing. It was an illusion," she said.  
"What do you mean?" He wondered, ignoring the vaguely familiar name that she called him.  
"Our breeding appointment. We showed the doctors what they needed to see. What actually happened in that cell was not what was seen. I wasn't drugged, they simply thought that I was. I wasn't forced. I made the choice. I am the one who selected him and I willingly gave myself to him." There were gasps throught the building.  
Quinn stepped forward, towards her and told her, "I cannot unerstand a single word that you are saying, right now."  
Mercedes took a deep breath and reached her hand out to Quinn, to touch her face. She smiled and said, "You will later. Right now... just promise me that you will not hurt him. We need him." Quinn nodded her head. Mercedes looked at Puck and he rolled his eyes, nodded and shrugged his shoulders. She sighed and said, "I have to find him and talk to him. I want you to make sure that everyone gets into the buses and Susie will show you the way back to where we are set up." She jerked her head towards the doorway for her inner circle to follow, but paused when she noticed Emma, staring out, straight ahead with a faint smile. She walked over to her and waved her hands in front of her face.  
"Yes, still blind, but I can still see," Emma said.  
"You told me that I would die," she said.  
"Nonsense, Your Highness. I told the alter ego who had taken over you that she would die, and it has come to pass."  
"This body ceased to live."  
"No... that body has awaken, and now, we will all be free from the prisons that we have been forced into by the humans, as well." Mercedes moved to leave and Emma reached out and caught her wrist. "He will die, too. You need to allow it."  
"But, he has no alter ego," she said.  
"No, he has not. Yet, he must die. You must allow it," Emma said and let go of her. Mercedes beckoned Rory over with her finger and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Make sure that the Graeae get safely onto the buses, then meet me whereever I am."  
"Yes," he said, with a nod.

Starchildren with staff uniforms on began to load the buses with others. Sightgift - have you found Sam?  
He appears to be in some top secret area, packing some things... Mercedes made her way, with her entourage, to where she knew the ship to be. She had an entire crew with her and she was not the least bit bothered by anything. This was the first time in a long time that she felt this way... Until she felt something swoosh by her and she hit the wall. She frowned and touched her head, which was bleeding, slightly. But, then, shots were being fired at her and her friends until she formed a shield around them. Emma... who is that? What happened?  
Forces were sent in, just in case. They didn't know whether or not things were truly alright, or if Director Sylvester was being forced to pretend that they were. Our people...  
Are dying! Mercedes finished the thought for herself, as she could fill it. There were soldiers, firing and while each Starchild was using his or her power to do whatever they could, some of them were falling.  
DANICA - Get. Out. Of. Here! Sam fussed. She frowned and stared towards the sniper who had opened fire upon her and her gang and she reached out for him and snatched his weapon from his hand. She gave it to Joe and moved down the hall, quickly, "We are under attack," she told them. They were moving back in the direction of the courtyard. She saw Sue being freed, with bodies around her feet.  
The moment that Sue was free, she took the gun from the nearest soldier and moved to try to shoot the nearest Starchild. Mercedes telekinetically snatched that out of her hand, too. Quinn raised an eyebrows, "I happen to have a plan," she sang to Mercedes, who sighed.  
"Do it," Mercedes said, with a nod.  
Quinn's eyes began to light up and she said, "Humans, only kill other humans." Like a light switch, the soldiers present began doing exactly that, while they tried to help the injured Starchildren out of the place.  
"Mindwhisper, we need you to link us together," Blaine said. "Remember in private sessions, when Kurt and I were able to manifest your powers? The others need to be able to manfest mine. There are so many bodies here!" She nodded and touched him. They locked hands and both of them began to glow. Quinn bent down to check on a wounded Sebastian and she watched as his wounds began to heal.  
"It's working!" She told them.  
The others went around the room helping other injured ones. Joe saw Aphasia and rushed to her. She had a bullet wound in her chest and was kicking her legs around. He hoped that her baby was alright... He reached out and touched her to heal her and she screamed and reached out for him. He turned to stone as she jumped up, suddenly alert and bumped him. Joe's body went crashing to the ground and shattered into severla pieces. "No!" Aphasia cried out and reached for him. "No!" She cried, tears falling down her face.  
The shattering sound interrupted everyone. Mercedes and Blaine let go of each other's hands. Quinn went running towards Joe's remains and fell to the foor, near them She picked up a few pieces in her hands and stared at Aphasia. "Oh, God... I am so sorry. I was in pain and fighting for my life. He touched me... I didn't mean to," she said, covered her face to cry. Sebastian helped her from the floor and placed his hands on her shoulders.  
Quinn picked up a fragment that looked like a work of broken art - his eyes, so full of the emotion that he had while looking at Aphasia... He wanted so badly to help her. He hadn't considered her ability. Quinn slapped the jagged plaque into Aphasia's hand and said, "You didn't do this. They did." She pointed at the humans who still remained.  
No one had bothered to untie Dr. Hudson, Dr. Schuester or his wife, nor Becky. Aphasia mae her way towards them as though spellbound. "Medusa!" Mercedes called, but the woman made a run for it. She laid her hands on Dr. Hudson and shoved the stone statue of him to the ground. She laid her hands on Terri Schuester and as she shook her head no, she became stone as well. "Medusa!" Mercedes called out.  
But Aphasia's hands quickly found Will Schuester and she said, "You deserve to die more horribly than Joe had to." She pulled out a weapon that none of the others realized that she even had and used it to cut off Schuester's head before turning him and it into stone. She held the stone head in her hands and looked at Becky. But when she moved towards her, Sebastian's hands wrapped around her waist and he pulled her away, and took her weapon, examining it. It was some type of huge dagger, made of stone. "They killed Joe," she said, crying. "Why him? He never did anything to hurt anybody. He was so nice."  
"I'm going to take her to the buses," Sebastian said.  
"Please do," Mercedes said and glared at Quinn, who retrieved the stone head of Schuester from Aphasia's hands. Mercedes glared at her, "Why would you do that to her?"  
Marley rushed to Aphasia, and helped Sebastian forced her to walk, as she began to break down when they passed the pile of stone that was Joe.  
Quinn held the head under her arm and said, "They deserved it and she was empowered to do it." We WILL discuss this later. Mercedes promised her.

Puck stared down at the pile and his lip quivered. "This is Evans' fault." He kicked the rocks around, wishing that there was some type of way for him to fix this. He shed tears as he realized that there wasn't. Blaine shook his head at the pile. "It doesn't seem right to just leave Joe here like this."  
Kurt shook his head and said, "It isn't." He bent down and began to collect the pieces and gather them into the front of his shirt, like seashells. Tears were falling down Kurt's cheeks. Puck bent down to help him, remembering how willing to help him Kurt had been, as a child. He began to collect pieces, too. Kurt cried his eyes out as they did this. Blaine looked around for something more suitable, but could only find a hospital robe on a dead body. Seeing Kurt that way made him want to cry. Kurt was always making someone else feel better, and now, with the stress of all of this and with the sorrow of this event, there was nobody to help take his pain away. It seemed like it all had finally caught up to him. The stress. The horrors. The death. He sobbed loudly when he picked up one of Joe's hands and remembered how Joe's talented fingers would trace an object and he would recite its history with such enthusiasm and gladness...  
Mercedes stooped and placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder. For too long, he was living with his pain. She took it. She would not let him do this to himself, any longer, trying to fight his and everyone else's emotions when he had no power to control his own, as he control everyone else's. He gasped and looked up at her. "You let out a good cry for him, but if we do not get moving, we may all be killed. He wouldn't have wanted that. She took the pieces from his shirt and dumped them into the hospital gown. "He will be buried in a beautiful place." She handed the gown to Puck and they went on their way.  
Sugar was devasted, but the Princess was right. They had to get out of that place. There were still soldiers on the loose who were not under Quinn's influence. There were still Starchildren in the buidling that needed to safely find there way to the buses. She made the decision to make everyone intangible. Everyone in their circle was invisible and beyond detection from all other senses, as well.  
Rory was walking through the hallway and quickly dipped into a section where they were, when he obviously saw something that startled him. Sugar reached out and pulled him into her protection and asked, "What is it?"  
"I saw Doctor Evans. He's walked frantically through the hallway and I was frightened," Rory admitted, wishing that he had an opportunity to speak with Sugar under some other circumstances. Puck began to rush forward and Sugar moved quicker, worried that he was going to break out of her hedge of protection... an worried that he might actually hurt the Prince. She didn't want him to lash out and she didn't want the Prince to have to defend himself by hurting him, either...  
Puck was moving swfitly in Sam's direction and Mercedes said, "We need to take him with us. Knock him out." She was too late, though. He moved quicker than she was able to stop him. Puck opened his palm for a large, sharp boulder to come forth from it and shoved it through Sam's back.

The gasp that escaped Sugar and made her drop her defenses for a moment was loud and serious. Mercedes rushed to Sam, fussing at Puck, as she did. Sam was trying to convince Mercedes to let him die. Mercedes touched his face and exchanged a quick mental message with him, Blaine will heal you.

No. Let me die. It's for the best. Sam thought.  
Mercedes was having none of it. She waved Blaine over. "We're taking him with us. We'll need you to heal him." Blaine nodded his head and reached towards Dr. Evans with both hands. He touched him for a moment, then pulled away and collapsed. "Blaine!" Mercedes called, concerned.  
Sugar said, "If I'm going to shield us out of here, we need to go. I'm getting tired."  
Mercedes ordered, "Rory, grab Blaine and Dr. Evans. Sugar, lead the way." Rory separated into four versions of himself to gather up the two unconscious males and the group made their way towards escape.  
Anyone else in the building, they would have to come back in search for, when they had a chance to regroup. Mercedes felt someone else enter into their net and she looked over to see Mike and Tina... "What the hell happened to the Prince?" Mike asked.  
Quinn nearly dropped her beloved new Schuester head at that question.  
"What Prince?" she asked.  
Mercedes threw them a daring look and said, "We will discuss all of that, later!" She tossed the bag that Sam had been holding to Mike and moved forward, latching her arm into Sugar's as she did. When Quinn saw it, she moved forward and latched herself to the other arm, still holding the head under her other one. Aside from that, this set up felt familiar and she knew that she had done it hundreds of times before, even though she couldn't remember doing so.


	13. The Universe Will

_Previously on S.T.A.R.S..._

**The Universe Will**

Mercedes collapsed and held her head when they got outside. She saw soldiers everywhere. Some of them were collecting Starchildren who had tried to escape - some of them were gathering up bodies of humans who had been killed in the struggle. She wanted to go towards them, but she was already drained for helping to boost Sugar's power to extend to the others. She touched her head where the sniper's bullet had grazed her and thanks to Artie's presence, the wound was healed, but she was starting to tire out. Mike and Sightgift hoisted her up and helped her to continue walking. "Come on, Princess. The Prince charged us with making sure that you're safe, at all costs."  
Sugar reminded them, "I am so tired that I don't know if I can continue." She glanced at the soldiers around them and said, "I know this is terrible timing and I'm sorry."  
"Cham - we may have to ditch them," Sightgift said.  
"Whatever it takes is what he said," he replied.  
"No you won't," Mercedes said and pulled away from them. "I can walk" she said, mustering up more strength for herself. It was right around that time when Sugar's body simply ran out of power. The girl fell and passed out and with her unconsciousness and Mercedes' exhaust - the entire group became exposed.  
Another Rory emerged and gathered Sugar up as the group began to move inward, towards each other as soldiers surrounded them with guns. Sam reached out weakly for Mercedes, "Danica..." It was barely a whisper, but she heard him and moved towards him. She took his hand. This was it. They had failed. They were about to be killed and all that she could do was hope for the best for those who would survive.  
"They have Dr. Evans! Hold your fire!" One of the soldiers called out, but they continued to surround the group. Mercedes also heard, "I have their leader within sight. She is touching Dr. Evans. Most likely, killing him. How do I proceed?"  
"I wouldn't let you die. No matter what it cost me," Sam whispered and their joined hands began to glow.  
"Take the shot! Take the shot! Take her out!" She heard, but within moments, the entire group teleported from where they were to the location of the hideout.

They looked around, confused and Mercedes gathered Sam in her arms and commanded, "Help me get him inside!" Mike and Rory helped her and the others were still confused. When Jesse saw Sam, he quickly rushed to his aid and Rachel followed, grabbing their medical equipment. "He's injured and used what was probably the last of his strength to get us to safety," Mercedes told Jesse and squeezed his shoulder, "Do, everything that you can for him."  
"Of course," he said.  
"Bury me with our daughter," Sam said, touching her hand.  
"Nobody's burying you. You have some of the finest doctors in the world here with you..." Mercedes started, but Sam's hand fell limp before she even finished her thought and Jesse bumped her aside to try to tend to Sam as he seemingly flatlined.  
Jesse and Rachel were working hard, but he turned and asked, "Where the hell is Lifeline?"  
"He tried to help and was rendered unconscious. I think Eosphorus deflected him."  
"Why would he do that?" Rachel wondered.  
Jesse shook his head and said, "He wants to die."  
"He doesn't get to make that choice!" Mercedes fussed through her teeth.  
"He does, because if he deflected Lifeline, he will deflect any treatment that we attempt to give him."  
"Do it anyway!" She fussed and stormed out, creating havoc in her path, as she did. She rushed outside and clenched herself tightly. Quinn showed up and sat next to her on the ground. "I assure you, Hester - if he doesn't make it, you have no place with us."  
"That is fair, I suppose. I disobeyed you. But, you weren't completely honest with me. I heard what you said to the techno SID... Dr. Evans... he's one of us." She shook her head, with tears in her eyes, "Why would he do this to us? Why has he done the things that he has done...?" A slap struck Quinn across her face and she threw her hands up to her cheek, shocked at her friend for administering it.  
"You do not have the authority to question anything that he does!" Mercedes herself had wondered why Sam had allowed things to go on the way that he had, but a feeling inside of her knew that he di what he felt he had to do to be sure that if not any of the others, at least she was alright. It wasn't fair to the others, that he had been an instrument in their pain, but maybe they had missed something. Maybe they all had. Maybe without him, they might ALL be dead. There was no way to know for sure and she wasn't going to allow anybody to speak ill of him ever again, especially if... Even the thought hurt her feelings, hurt her body, hurt her entire energy. She felt something inside of her. It was as though some portion of herself was being ripped away, but she did not feel him enter the well. If he was gone, he should have transferred his energy into the orb that she carried, like everyone else. But, it was clear to her, his energy was not there. He was still a part of her, somehow, but not in the same way that he had been moments before.  
She looked up, with tears in her eyes, when Sightgift and Cham came out, both looking devastated. Chameleot approached her with a dagger and handed it to her. She took it, with trembling hands and lips and pointed at Quinn, "Escort her and Puck away."  
"The Prince commanded us not to send anyone away, no matter what."  
"He is now dead," Mercedes reminded him.  
Sightgift reminded her, "More of a reason for us to respect his last wishes."

She nodded and glared at Quinn, who was crying, silently, emotionally rejected by the slap her princess had given her, and feeling guilty for hurting another Starchild. Sightgift reached for her hand and helped her to stand. "You are carrying a Starchild. Let me show you where you can get cleaned up and get some sufficient rest."  
"Do you know who we really are?" Quinn asked.  
"Why don't you just get some rest, and worry about all of that later. Your womb has been through alot in the past few days." The woman would barely look at Quinn and Quinn knew that her loyalties were to Evans. It probably killed her not to harm the woman who helped to bring him down. She led Quinn to a place where Marley Rose was tending to a still distraught Aphasia, a human that Sightgift greeted as Grace was comforting a crying Rachel, who was distraught over her friend and colleague's recent death, and other females were present. "This is the maternity ward. The ladies here will take care of you and you will take care of each other. You're all holding precious cargo and the Prince was concerned about the energy inside of all of you more than anything else, except for the Princess." She turned to leave and Quinn turned to see Carmen and choked out more tears. Carmen smiled softly at her and took her into an embrace. She had not held the younger woman in a long time, but she could tell that it was much needed.

She was sprawled out next to her daughter's grave, on an empty plot that she knew was intended for her, looking over at the other empty plot... the place where they would bury him. It hurt so much. Why did this have to happen? They were almost there! She couldn't shake the thought that this was her fault. He told her not to come back to the center, but she insisted. Maybe if she had not gone there and had the group with her shielded, instead of leading them back inside - she squeezed the tears out.. like it mattered how or why! The fact was that he was dead and she had not a damned clue as to what she was going to do without him...

The Princess is in the village! She could hear the thoughts of excitement as she travelled with her entourage of maidens, tending to her elegant tresses and the cascading train of her golden gown. She stopped at a vendor and smiled at the fellow, there. He bowed to her and showed her his jewelry. "Which would you suppose is fit for a woman of my stature?" She asked.  
"Well, You Highness, I am afraid that I have none elegant enough for you, but I vow that my mission in life from this point will be to obtain a trinket that you would count as worthy. Perhaps, today may be a day in which something is selected for your maidens?" He asked, locking eyes on one of them. Danica looked towards Aphasia, who was so busy straightening the train, she didn't see the young, dreadlocked hair male admiring her. He looked back to the princess and said, "And for the princess' maidens, all is free of charge."  
"That's ridiculous," Aster (Sugar) said. "It is the princess who can afford any luxury and she takes care of her servants." Aster held out a hand towards Aphasia, and she rushed to her, with the coinpurse. The vendor noted, that she was one of the lowest of the servants present, serving even the princess' guard, whom all knew Aster to be the chief of. Aphasia would have been one of the guards to, with an ability like hers. But, she held the coinpurse of a servant. "Ladies, make your selections," Aster said to the group.  
"Actually, Aster, this gentleman specializes in selecting the perfect gift for any woman," Danica said to her handmaiden. "Select one for Aster, first." Aster stared at him with wide, twinkling eyes and a smile.  
He reached forward and asked, "May I?" as he gestured to her bracelet. She blinked several times and extended her hand. If the princess said so, she trusted this, as confused as she was. He touched the bracelet that she wore on her wrist and saw her scavenging through piles of stardust with a young man next to her. 'We're going to die out here,' she said. 'No, we won't. The army has left, but we will make it back to the palace.' He cradled her face and smiled at her with sparkling blue eyes. 'I found you something,' he said and put the bracelet on her. She smiled and shook her head, 'We need food and you give me jewelry.' She snuggled closely to him and said, 'I'll never take it off.'  
The jeweler said, "This was a gift, scavenged from the sands of the deserts, during wartimes. It belonged to a princess. She dropped it in the sands rather than have it to become property of an enemy, but your lover found it and gave it to you as a gift." He smiled at her as she trembled from that assessment. "I have jewelry from the kingdom which this bracelet was crafted, but I also have this," he pulled out a necklace, which was a blue color, "It does not match what you have on, today, however - I think that you will find it reminiscent of his eyes." Aster reached for the necklace and stared into it. The jewels that crafted it were like mirrors, which at first looked like she was looking at herself through a kaleidoscope, but then, she saw them - those blue eyes. She looked excitedly at Danica and the Princess helped her to put it on. She stroked it lovingly and moved aside for the others...  
Eventually, last but not least (in his eyes), Aphasia approached the booth. She looked up into his eyes and they stared at each other for a moment. "I knew you," she said.  
"You know me," he corrected. "Its been years. I thought that you might forget me," he said.  
"How could I ever? Even with a new life?" She asked, with a smile. "I don't know if you would have anything for me. I don't have any fancy jewelry to go off of." Her dress was a simple, compared to the others, but still fancier than most women in the village. She had not been a servant as long as some of the others, but she had been conquered for many moons. It was obvious that she had gone through much, but also obvious that the princess was taking good care of her as a servant, as everyone knew that the princess did.  
Aphasia looked at the booth as he pulled out a special box and opened it. She gasped and he smiled at her. "You... you..." she shook her head and covered her mouth as her eyes got teary.  
"It was going to be a wedding present," he told her. "But when our lands were conquered by Eosphorus, and separated into the slave quarters, I was able to salvage them." He took out of a box a pair of shimmering gloves and helped her hands into them. She looked at them and held her hands before her.  
"I never would have hurt you," she said, softly, looking up at him, again.  
"I know. But, I didn't want you to hurt someone else and be arrested and taken away from me, either," he answered. "And now, I see that the universe has brought both of us uner the fair and just leadership of this kingdom..." Aphasia and Joe's hands were squeezing each others and they looked deeply into each other's eyes, silently.

With a delighted smile, Danica reached beneath her gown to get to her garter, which she pulled a key out of and marched over to Aphasia. She unlocked a decorative choker that the woman wore on her neck and smiled at her. "You should be here, with him," she said. Aphasia stared at her and clasped her hands together as she fell down before her, "Thank you, Gracious Princess, but I must never leave your palace. You are my Princess, and my allegiance is to you."  
Danica smiled again, and still removed the choker from her handmaiden, "It is perfectly acceptable for the Princess' handmaidens to take up husbands into the palace." She handed the choker to her and said, "As long as he wears her mark."  
Without a second thought, Joe, lifted his dreads from his neck to show it, "If you will still have me?" He said. She quickly placed the choker on him and joined her gloved hands to his. He smiled happily and whispered, "I always knew that the universe would bring you back to me." He stroked her gloves with his thumbs, the very gloves that he carried around for all of these years, with the anticipation that he would place them on her hands, someday.  
Hester (Quinn) smiled at them, then turned to Susie and said, "Send word to the palace, right away. This vendor shall relocate and his bride and he shall be given new quarters." The young lady nodded and vanished. Hester looked at Aster, lovingly looking at the newly reunited couple, with their noses pressed together. "Of whom are you thinking?" She asked.  
Aster looked at her and smiled sadly, "I'm just wondering if the universe will bring my love back to me, as well."  
Danica interlocked her arm with each of theirs and said, "Of course it will. The universe will bring both of you back to your true loves."  
Hester furrowed her eyebrows and said, "The man who would have been mine is a prisoner of war in the lands of Eosphorus. That wicked Prince would never free him. He will come to feed the stars in his prison cell."  
"He will not," Danica said. "When Eosphorus next takes the table, I will wager for this prisoner. You placed yourself on the line to obtain my harp player, without whom, I would certainly still be miserable. I will do what it takes to bring the General to my lands, under my authority, of course."  
"Princess, you have already been more generous to me than any conqueror should. You have treated me as a friend and a sister, instead of a slave. I would not ask you to sacrifice on my behalf," Hester said.  
"You do not have to ask," Danica told her. "Simply always remember that your Princess would gladly sacrifice for her people."  
"I shall always remember, My Princess." Hester placed her head onto the Princess' shoulder, and Danica stroked her face, like a loving master to an obedient pet.

"The universe brought them back together," Mercedes said as she looked at the broken pieces that were wrapped up. "I didn't expect for it to allow them to part again in this way." Blaine and Kurt were with her, Kurt, once again sniffling over the body. Blaine looked ill, but he was moving around, thank goodness. "Did Matt make it out of there?" She wondered.  
"Yes. He made it out on the same bus as Sebastian and Aphasia. I'll send for him," Kurt said and went towards the buildings.  
Blaine kneeled down and shook his head, "I wish that I could control my power enough to try to fix this. I have the ability to heal and to drain life. I must be able to also give it back."  
"I would not ask that it be risked, for the fear of what type of life they might be returning to. Would he suffer greatly? Would we even be able to piece him back together?" Blaine sat next to her in the dirt. "You love Kurt," she said.  
"I... what?" He asked, with wide eyes. "I mean, Kurt is my best friend, but we've hardly had the time to fraternize, any of us, with the lives that we have lived."  
"The universe brings those together who should be. Everyone who was connected to someone remained connected, even without knowing it. The imprisonment is over. You are allowed happiness. It is too late for Aphasia and Joe. All of you who may have it, I recommend that you seek it. Sugar and Rory," she said, smiling as she saw them in her head, as she once knew them; he - a spy and a soldier in disguise, she a formidable guard, them - together and happily in love. "Brittany and Santana. You and Kurt." She furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Puck and Quinn," she practically hissed their names out.  
Blaine reached over to wrap her in an embrace. He kissed the top of her head and assured her, "All of us will find some type of happiness. None of us will ever be able to, unless we see to it that you have."  
"How can I?" She asked. "He and I were supposed to save you all... together. You entrusted your lives to us and as your rulers, we vowed to lead and protect you. We. Have. Failed. You... and I lost my love. The love that I risked everything, even all of you for." She sighed and tried not to fall into another pitiful downpour of tears. "Perhaps the universe is punishing me for that selfishness."  
"You have never been selfish, as long as I have known you. You would sacrifice everything for us. Did you force us to come, or did we gladly accompany you? Consider it and see yourself for who you truly are. Our Princess, no... our Queen, as we have no other ruler, but you, now..." Blaine was saying.  
"You summoned me, Your Highness?" She heard Matt ask. She stood up and nodded her head. She closed the cloth around Joe's remains and and looked up at him. "I'll take care of it, Your Highness."  
"Please, I am just Mercedes. The ruler that I once was... she died with the Prince." Blaine got up from the ground to help Matt bring Joe to a clear plot to open the earth and place him inside. They weren't sure how to mark the grave for the moment, so they stuck a stick in it and Kurt decorated a portion of his shirt with Joe's name.  
"We'll get with the others on getting him a proper stone, soon," Blaine said and squeezed Kurt's shoulders.  
"We need a flag," Matt said. Blaine and Kurt both looked at him. "Remember on Dark Angel, when the transgenetics settled in the outskirts of the city, where the humans dared not go? It reminds me of this place and what we're doing here. We are going to be settling here. From what I've gathered, there is no plan in mind. We need a name. We need a plan, and we need a flag." He wrung his hands.  
"Yeah... Matt, I think that all sounds great, but can we finish burying our friends, first?" Kurt asked.  
"Kurt, the humans are going to come after us as soon as they regroup," Matt said. "We need leadership and we need plans."  
"We have leadership," Blaine said. He looked at Mercedes while Jesse, Sightgift and Chameleot brought Sam's body out. She stood up, pacing and shaking her head. She was not ready to do this, but she knew that she had to. She once was willing to ignore her feelings for him in order to best serve her people. She had to remind herself of that, of who she was and what was required of her. She stopped pacing and put on a strong face. She reached out and touched his face and felt how the light had gone from him, the energy was in the universe's well. Maybe his energy went home. Maybe it was here, in the atmosphere. She could not say. All that she really knew was that this was simply a shell that Jesse had built to contain his energy inside of.

Everyone walked to the site, hundreds of them, gathered around as Jesse and Mike lowered the boy of their closest friend to the dirt. He had been cleaned up and changed and Mercedes watched them place his body onto the ground. "Matt, would you?" She asked softly.  
"Of course," he told her. "It will be my honor." Matt stepped forward and stretched out his arms, opening up the earth, when he did and allowing it to swallow up Sam's body as he shut his arms together again. Mercedes kneeled down before the grave and cried. EVERY last one of the others followed her to the ground, even Quinn and Puck, bowing down before their fallen prince. It was as though in that moment, nobody cared about everything that they had gone through over the years - while under his "care." No one cared that he seemed to be a traitor or a poor ruler. All that they saw was the one who had spent the last of his energy to save those that he could, and the princess left behind, reduced to tears at seeing him go.

The first day without him was shaky. Susie, Tina, Sugar, Mercedes and Santana went back to the building to see how many of their survivors that they could free. Jesse took control of the systems, but unfortunately, the surviving Starchildren had been locked in manual cells, with actual locks, making Sugar have to go through the rooms to free them, and make sure that they remained attached to her or someone touching her so that they could all get out and Susie to have to teleport in and out of cells to do the same. More unfortunate, still, when the soldiers realized that Starchildren were vanishing from their cells, they began rounding them up, intending to execute them rather than have them free in the outside world. Santana had to swiftly steal as many weapons as she could and attack as many soldiers as possible. Brittany was also quite helpful in attacks, though not nearly as swift and Sightgift had been training for years to fight and defend herself and other Starchildren. Mercedes found that since Sam died, she seemed unable to adopt other people's abilities. Maybe she was simply depressed... maybe she only had that gift because it was his gift and they had been connected. She still was able to make those around her stronger and she still had her powers of mindreading and sonic scream, but it was a struggle to get herself to do what the others could do, on the scale that she had.

Back at the headquarters, the maternity ward was restless, and helped to mark all of the new graves that Matt was making for those being brought back here. Kurt and Blaine helped Rachel and Carmen to deal with the injured ones. Mostly everyone was silent. Sean was closely watching the news, with Dustin, Holly and Grace. The human allies seemed to not want to get in the way and ended up simply hanging around the injured Starchildren, in case any of them needed something.  
Quinn remained inside, staring out of a window at everything that had happened. Why had Sam saved her? Why had he even cared about her? Was it some kind of one for the road mind trip, or had he really had their best interest at heart the entire time? Had he maybe had a change of heart, at the end? She was distraught with the questions in her head. She spotted Puck, helping with the gravestones and she touched her womb. Things had not gone the way that she would have planned, but... she would have chosen him, had she ever had the chance. She would have selected him. She got up and headed outside. Maybe, she should try to do something to help. She looked at Aphasia, "Do you need anything?" She asked her.  
"I had a flashback," she said. "It seems like things have been becoming clearer since the princess awakened to herself. I could see Joe and me joined at the hands, walking, with stardust between our toes. I don't even think that I have ever heard the word stardust before. But, there we were. There he was. Now, I am holding this burden, forced upon me, with Sebastian." She hugged her knees.  
Quinn sighed. She glanced at Will Schuester's head on the nightstand and went to sit next to Aphasia, "It was wrong of me to use what happened to Joe to get a reaction out of you."  
"No... It was wrong of me not to recognize him. I'm the one who failed him and I killed him. I'll have to live with that."  
"The two of you would have been cute," Quinn said, then realized that was probably one of the worse things that she could have said, but Aphasia didn't seem to mind it.  
In fact, she rested her chin on her knees and smiled sadly. "We were, once. We were adorable. I think that we were together, we got separated and we got back together again... then all of this happened."  
"Maybe it's like the humans say and you see the ones you lost again," Quinn said. Aphasia shrugged.  
She wanted to tell someone that she always had a thing for him, but she was too afraid to admit it, because he was in a white jumpsuit, and she was in a red one. Other red jumpsuits would have some down on her for it, and he probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near her, anyway. She noticed that he changed, after their encounter. He wasn't loyal to them, but she could tell that it did something to him to hurt her. She could tell that whatever it was, this "thing" that she had for him was mutual. They would never act on it. How could they? She was shocked that she hadn't somehow killed Sebastian during mating, but maybe that was more to do with the fact that Sebastian could manipulate his own DNA. Maybe one could not turn him into stone, because of his ability to change his form. Maybe he could change his genetics, too, when he did. He turned into Joe, for her. She and Sebastian were friends. He knew of her crush on Joe, just as she knew of his crush on Blaine, and he decided that to be Joe for her might not only help her with it, but it might also help them not to be as awkward in their friendship, after the fact. Aphasia let out a deep breath as her mind couldn't seem to slow down for even a moment.  
"Let's go see if we can help," Quinn suggested, seeing the anguish on the other woman's face.  
"I can't be out there, where they've put him in the ground, because of me. I can't see all of the others. Quinn... I just can't."  
"Ok. I'll stay with you." Quinn reached out Aphasia's hand, but she squirmed away from her, making sure their skin did not touch. Quinn frowned, then put her hand on the inside of her shirt and used that to grab the woman's hand.

The second day was spent going through all of the goods collected from all of the abandoned homes. The guys went to strip own buildings for the materials that they would use to try to build themselves a fortress. It would not happen overnight, but they knew that with all of them working, it would be probably the quickest built one that the Earth had ever seen. The rescuers rested, except for Mercedes, who insisted on being an active part of everything that everyone was doing.  
Mike came to her and brought her a bag, "Hey, this is the bag that Sam had when you guys found him, before he was attacked. It has some random things in it. I don't know if any of it will mean anything to you, or not." She accepted it with a soft smile, then began to cry as she threw it over her arm.  
While the others were trying to keep themselves busy with plans and strategies, she was going through the bag. She opened it, in the room that had been his office. She pulled out a necklace and recognized it as Hester's. She clenched it in her fist and placed it aside. He obviously wanted her to have it back, but she wasn't getting it today. Mercedes was still angry with her. Still bitter that as her princess, she was willing to fight for her maiden to have her true love, but her maiden was willing to betray her and take hers away. The bitterness would not soon fade and Hester would not soon get her damned necklace back.

She reached inside and pulled out a flower, made eternal by a glass dome and she cried and held it to her chest. Her brother's flower! How had he even found this after the crash? He had to have diligently searched for it. He had to have searched for... all of this, she began to notice, as she pulled out jewelry and weapons that friends and loved ones once could not part with. She searched the bag and found that most of what was there was all such things. She clutched the bag to herself and fell to the floor, crying, holding it.. The office had such things inside of it, too. He had to have spent a lot of time, energy and funding on obtaining most of the things that he had for them.

She couldn't take the pain. She curled up in the bed that was in the office and tried to sleep. She couldn't. She summoned Kurt, mentally and he quickly came. She pointed at something on Sam's desk and Kurt stared at the harp in confusion. "Just play it for me and sing to me, please? I know that you think that you can't play it, but I promise you, it is yours and you can. The universe will remind you how... and I need this, right now." Kurt took a deep breath and a swallow and reached for the instrument, which was made of something that he had never seen on Earth, before. It was dazzling in a way that nothing earthen dazzled and as he admired it, it did become familiar to him. It was like.. his eyes were open! He looked at Mercedes... No, at Princess Danica and he knew what he had to do to help her. "As you wish, My Princess," he said softly, and began to do what he did for her when they first met, ages ago, when she took him in, as more of a friend than a servant. She needed peace through her heartache, again.

The third day, Mercedes felt more manageable, but she knew that her misery would never go away, not ever. Kurt could not mesmerize her pain away, nor touch it away. He had tried everything. Everyone had tried everything. Nothing helped. She sat with Emma on this third day, which Emma had told her that no one should leave their camp and that no one should be too busy. That they should all just rest. She knew that Emma was once her chief advisor and she respected everything that she would say. In a way, the Princess served the precog. The precog's word was final. No matter what the Princess did or said or tried to do. "The universe will give us the future as it sees fit," Emma would say when Mercedes would try to do things differently, until the woman simply learned to believe Emma, for all that she would say.  
Shelby kept Schuester's head on her lap, stroking her fingers over it, blindly. Mercedes felt like a day with the Graeae was a good one, though she didn't dare still refer to them that way. She told Kurt to stop trying to take her pain away but he told her, "You said that you reject the notion of being my princess, so you have no control over what I try to do," and continued playing his harp and sending his energy in her direction.

She sighed and looked at Sugar, being taunted by no less than six Rorys, tossing her bracelet all over the place as she tried to get it from him. She was glad that they weren't mourning. The less mourning, the better. Aphasia still was, but she, Quinn and Rachel seemed to be making some kind of pregnant bond. The three of them were hanging out and looking through the bins that had been collected of various baby supplies, pondering on what form their future babies would take. Quinn and Mercedes locked eyes and Mercedes turned away from her to look over at Puck and Matt, being trained by Mike on how to gain control of their abilities. If only Sam was here. He was the superior of controlling it. He could teach them all. But, he was gone...

"It had to happen," Emma said.  
"Yeah, you told me," Mercedes said, bitterly.  
"You'll see him again," Emma told her.  
"So.. there is an afterlife," Mercedes said, confused.  
"Life never ends, it simply takes turns and changes. Death is a continuation of life and our energies never fade out, but transfer to continue the universe, as it always should be. We feed the universe that feeds us..."  
"Oh," Mercedes said. "So.. I will see him in every trickle of sunlight, hear him in the breeze of winds..." She was about to continue her sarcastic rant when the ground shook beneath them. Everyone looked at Matt and clenched his fists and winced as the rumbling continued.  
"Matt, you need to control this!" Mike said, alarmed.  
"I don't think that it's me," Matt said, straightening up and looking around, confused. now, everyone looked at Mercedes. She shook her head and they all began to gather closely together, frightened by the quakes. Susie quickly popped up next to Mercedes, took her and teleported them next to Sugar.  
"Are we under attack?" Sugar wondered, she and Susie shielding Mercedes, as her other guards moved in to do the same.  
Emma walked past them, towards Sam's grave and stared at it, surprisingly calm as everyone else seemed so panicked. Mercedes broke away from her guards, who were distracted by Emma's odd behavior and they all began to follow her over as the ground continued to rumble. His grave started opening... all of the graves were opening. "What. The. F*ck?" Mercedes heard Santana ask. She looked to Emma for an answer, but Emma merely pressed her finger over her lips and pointed towards the now open grave. When everyone looked at it again, they were met with a blinding light and they all fell to shield their eyes. Everyone but Mercedes. Her eyes pierced the light and she was shocked when she saw him, surrounded by others, all of them nude, but... complete? Even.. even Joe? She couldn't breathe as he came forward, towards her, holding something in his hands, wrapped in dirty cloth. "Sam?" She said. It was then that gasps formed all around and the others were willing to brave the force of the light as they looked up, but it was fading, as well.  
Emma smiled and bowed her head, "Its good to see you, again," she said.  
Mercedes was so focused on him that she couldn't see or hear anything else. "Eosphorus..." She said, overwhelmed. He gave her a crooked smile and moved closer to close the gap between them, simpkly gazing at her. "I... don't understand..."  
"There is a reason that there are so many sacrificial Messiah stories in the universe, My Love. The universe loves that story, loves that hero. The universe molds them for special purposes. I'm sorry that I had to leave you, but it was necessary... to save everyone..." She threw her arms around him and cried into the filthy clothing that he was wearing. He held her closely and stroked her back as others gaped, some were confused, some were in shock.. She heard a cooing sound that sounded almost like music and she startled. He smiled down at her and said, "I brought you something back."  
He held out the cloth to her and Mercedes gathered the bundle into her arm and peeked in at the most beautiful little baby girl that she had ever seen. She had a full head of dark, glistening hair, bright green eyes and she seemed to be glowing. "Oh.. my..." She trembled and cried as she held the baby to herself and looked up at him.  
He touched her cheek and turned to face the others. _**We still have some work to do**_, he told his wife, _**But, now... we're equipped to do it...**_


	14. The Struggle of Trust

More Starchildren Names:  
**Shelby - Alpheratz: **The brightest star in Andromeda  
**Blaine - Crux: **Latin for "cross," a constellation  
**Emma - Oracle**

And in case you forgot:

**Shihab: Shane**  
**Aster: Sugar**  
**Hester: Quinn**  
**Orionus: Puck**

**Sheliak: Kurt**

**Thuraya **_(Stars and the Planets)_**: **Sam and Mercedes' daughter

**The Struggle of Trust**

Mercedes watched as Sam, with folded arms nodded at Emma, to something that she was saying, and as though he felt her eyes on him, he looked up and temporarily got lost in her eyes. She smiled to herself and cradled their daughter, who was staring up at her curiously and making musical sounds for coos. "You are so precious," Mercedes told her and kissed her head. She put the baby over her shoulder and went out to meet Emma and Sam. Shelby and April had been fixed, but Emma's eyes were still that glassy color, clear and empty, though Mercedes knew that everything was within them, or rather behind them.  
"So, what is it that we're doing right now?" Mercedes asked.  
Shelby quickly rushed to her and gathered the baby, "Please, Princess. If you're going to get into matters of nasty things, allow me to remove the little one from such issues." She collected the baby and stared at her, "I thought that I might die before ever seeing the face of the heir to your throne." Then, to the parents, "Thank you for letting me live my purpose for a third generation." She carried Thuraya towards the house, saying, "I was your grandmother's handmaiden, raised up with her and eventually served as her chief handmaiden, with authority over the others. When your mom was born, I was trusted enough to become her chief caregiver! And if the universe sees fit, I intend to be yours, as well!" Thuraya began to hum a song and Shelby laughed heartily and cradled her.  
"Thuraya adores her," Sam said, affectionately staring at them.  
Emma smiled, small and nodded, "The girl seems to be completely aware of who everyone is." The smile went away and she asked, "What will we do when everyone is awakened?"  
"Figure it out together," Mercedes said, and summoned for Sugar.  
Emma said, "We need to try to go home."  
"There is no way that we can do that," Sam commented. "As far as they know - we are all dead. We didn't _accidentally_ crash - our ship was taken over and destroyed. It was intended to be an assassination and had we not had the orb on board, it might have been successful. We can't possibly go back."  
Emma asked, "Was it not you who told me that our home star has been beckoning you back to it since you were a young child? Why would it beckon if we could not return?"  
"Have you SEEN us return?" Sam asked.  
"I have not," she confessed.  
"That settles that," he commented.

She looked towards Mercedes, who simply repeated, "We'll figure it out together after everyone's received their identities and abilities back. My handmaidens should be rounding up everyone now to meet up with us so that I can release the orb." Emma nodded her head and Sam simply gave Mercedes' hip a squeeze. It was so refreshing to be able to do these little things. Touching her, holding her for the past few nights had been everything he had longed for... almost. His heart was aching to reunite all of their loved ones and to finally have some peace.

_Alpheratz stared forward, nervously as Prince Shihab practically breathed down her neck, not seeing a thing, but knowing what she felt. Shihab's arms were folded as he looked at her, "Well?" He asked her. She tried not to say anything, but Shihab was extremely powerful in forcing others to use their abilities at his request. It wasn't quite mind control. It was more like - he could control their usage of their ability._  
_"It is definitely Princess Danica Thaqib and the Enemy Prince in the gardens," she said, feeling horrible for betraying her Princess. If she was in the gardens with Eosphorus, there was no doubt in her chief caregiver's mind that there was a good reason. _  
_"Send for her," Shihab said._  
_"Yes, Sire," Alpheratz answered and made her way into the gardens, relieved to be out of his presence. "Princess? You know that I know that you're here. What I don't know or understand is why you're here with him..." Danica appeared out of nowhere and squinted her eyes at her caregiver. "Prince Shihab has sent for you." Alpheratz began to fix Danica's hair and face. Obviously, she had been exchanging energies of passion (kissing and other things, presumably). Alpheratz sighed and frowned, "He will smell the Enemy Prince's energy on you." She clasped her hands together and looked at the ground, "I am but your servant and therefore you have nothing to explain to me. I simply would like to bring it to your remembrance that I have watched over you since you were but a small bundle of energy, still clothing yourself in flesh. I would never hurt nor harm you nor wish to see such a thing take place." Alpheratz looked up at her, with sad eyes and whispered, "But I have been forced into an uncomfortable situation by Prince Shihab, because of whatever it is that you are doing in the gardens with the Enemy Prince..."_  
_"He will not do anything to you, Alpheratz," Danica said. She frowned towards where she knew Eosphorus was still invisible. He was not supposed to be in the kingdom, at this time, but he was passing by and could not resist going to see Danica. He folded his arms and looked out into the distance at Shihab, pacing in anger. He read him... Shihab was up to something. He.. intended to lash out at Danica, and Eosporus would have none of it. _  
_He appeared and told the ladies, "Go to your chambers. Shihab has no power over Danica in this place. She is the rightful heir to the throne and he will reign by position of marriage. He will not 'send for you,' as though you're one of his subjects or concubines!" He practically roared._  
_"Princess Danica?" They heard a soft voice call and turned to see Sheliak and Crux (Blaine) entering the garden, preparing their garden sonata, which they performed for the princess. Crux saw Eosphorus and immediately moved forward, prepared to protect the Princess at all costs, but Sheliak grabbed his arm and asked, "Would you like us to return later, for the sonata?"_  
_She was glowing brightly with embarrassment and stress. "No, Sheliak. You and Crux may retire to your chambers. I shall need no music tonight to help me to sleep." Alpharatz took her hand and guided her towards the lift, which brought them up to her balcony and they entered her room, with her looking down at Eosphorus, as she was escorted into her room, where her maidens waited to prepare her for bed. _  
_He smiled up at her, then made his way towards Shihab. Shihab saw him and his eyes widened, "What are you doing in this kingdom? You have not been invited to the war court. I would have been notified."_  
_"I came to make peace with the Princess. It is my vision of our kingdoms coming together in peace and unity. It is my belief that war between our lands are no longer necessary and when we are in power; I wish to cease the fighting and the enmity," Eosphorus said. _

_Shihab was concentrating a large amount of energy on Eosphorus through this exchange, until Eosphorus smirked and raised an eyebrow... "Are you honestly trying to make me use my ability to your effect? Obviously, no one has brought it to your attention that I have never been bested by an ability. It is not possible. You will have to resort to the strength of your hands to battle me, but there is no need, Shihab. Peace will be possible when Danica and I reign over our kingdoms..."_  
_"I will reign, at Danica's side and she will have no peace with you, nor your lands! You dare to upset the very balance of the universe with your foolish vision and your silly belief! As long as there is a throne in this kingdom, the king will be at war with yours!" Shihab said. _  
_Eosphorus smirked, yet again and asked, "Do you honestly believe that you will come into this kingdom, marry the princess and become her superior? Shihab - allow me to tell you how this works. The king reigns in my kingdom, with a queen at his side to cover him in times of absence, sickness or the event of death. In your kingdom, as it now stands, this is the reverse, because the rightful king - the son and heir to the family throne was killed and you will be entering into this kingdom through the marriage of the next in line... A Princess so powerful that her servants are given servants and the spouse of one of her servants becomes their actual property, legally... But you think that she will idly allow you to take her namesake and all of the duty that comes with it?"_  
_"You think that she will make peace with the Prince who is responsible for the murder of her brother, in war? She will never make peace with you!" Shihab roared._  
_"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself, and how you need to calm down and reassess your reality. My visit with the Princess has concluded and she has instructed her caregiver to escort her to her chambers for the night. I bid you farewell, also." Eosphorus turned and walked out, silently, smirking the entire time. He knew that he got under Shihab's skin. He knew that Shihab had suspicions about the nature of his amends with Danica. He __**wanted**__ him to be worried, to be uncomfortable, to be afraid. He relished in it. The battles in the court, the victories, the surrenders, all of it was done meticulously, to win her over. He knew that he had done so - their secret meeting in the gardens outside of her chambers was his confirmation of this fact. They had professed their love for each other and agreed to make plans to be together, somehow. Shihab was still her fiance, but he would soon be a memory and Eosphorus took joy in sending him on his way..._

Sugar found it hard to talk to Quinn, even despite their years of friendship and sisterhood back home. Here, things had been different. They had not been particularly close, and Quinn, an isolated and abused individual was a far cry from her former self. Sugar hoped that soon, she could be herself again, but the people that they had become wouldn't cease to exist... they simply would be adding both identities into one body. She said, "The Princess needs everyone to assemble in the training field," to Quinn and Aphasia and before either of them said anything, she made her way to round everyone else up.

It was awkward that Mercedes was communicating with Sugar and not with Quinn. It had been three days since the resurrection and in that time, Quinn had not even been able to get anywhere near Mercedes or the baby. Sugar knew that it must have hurt her, but she also understood Mercedes' hurt when she thought that Sam was dead. Now, Quinn would have to learn to understand... consequences exist, regardless of intentions.

Aphasia reached out for Quinn's hand to help her up off of the bed and the two of them walked in the requested direction, in silence. They saw others emerging from different rooms and as they passed a certain window, saw Susie teleport in the midst of some of those working on building more living quarters, then disappearing as the workers abruptly stopped working in order to meet at the right place.

"As you all full well know, now, we are not humans with superpowers. We are not of this world and we have not always been here. Our Princess has within her everything that we need to be those who we once were," Emma said. Mercedes sighed and spread her arms outward for Sugar to be able to reach inside of her and withdraw it. When it was out, Sam and Mercedes both put their hands on it and it began to glow, then to float out of their hands and their fingertips followed it into the sky above them, where it sent out rays of light an energy and floods of it flowed over the group there and even seemed to go beyond them, all over the place. They blinked at each other as they saw that recognition of others, and saw friends and family finding each other in the crowd for hugs and kisses and such.

Quinn stared down at her hands and they shook. She held her heart, held her stomach and crumbled to the ground, crying. Had she really become that person? The person who betrayed her Princess... the person that Alpheratz always seemed suspicious of? She saw Alpheratz, holding the baby, the princess as she and Oracle hugged each other and hugged the princess. Strong arms lifted her from the ground and helped to square her away. "Hester, we need to beg forgiveness," he said. She stared at Orionus, with tears in her eyes. "We have to beg them not to kill us."  
"No one is going to harm you," Sam said, appearing out of nowhere, near them. He folded his arms and studied both of them, "You both came here with us, as a show of a sign of support and you're as much a part of our new family as anyone else here."  
Puck bowed and Sam pulled him up by the shoulders. "We are warriors. You believed me to be your enemy and you took the opportunity to strike. I always knew that it would be you and it had to happen," Sam told him. "It's like Judas and Jesus, only... you're still here, with me. I _want _you to be here with me, Orionus... and I want you here with us, too, Hester." He looked at her and she nodded, fiercely, and wiped away some tears. Sam said, "So, Orionus, Puck - what are you gonna go by?"  
"I would like to be referred to as 'General.' if that isn't asking too much," Puck said.  
"General, I need you to organize the fighters. We may have to soon use everything that we have," Sam said and they headed away. Quinn simply stood alone and wondered where she should go. She finally decided that she belonged next to Danica, and the princess would have to banish her to keep her away!

_ Hester watched carefully as Aster and her servants made a fuss about. She saw Alphenaz and Aphasia going over some information on a scroll while the lowest of the servants prepared Danica's dress. She could not understand a bit of anything going on in front of her. Prince Eosphorus would be coming for his right hand to do battle against Orionus in the courtyard. Orionus had been purchased from Eosphorus' prison system and enslaved by Prince Shihab. If he could prove himself, he could win his freedom as an officer of the kingdom. This was an important battle... but it should have only been important to him and to her.. why was __**everyone else**__ so worked up? "Aster, what is the meaning of all of the fuss?" She asked._  
_Aster sighed and handed a fancy box to Susie, who immediately teleported away. "Well, as you know - The former General Orionus was a terrible militant against the kingdoms, after your lands were overthrown. We have no way of knowing how many followers he has in hiding, how many will surface, how many vigilantes may make attempts on his life, and such. We must be certain that proper safety measures are in place for the Princess."_  
_"What do I need to do?" Hester asked._  
_Danica quickly replied, "You need to prepare to stand behind your chosen. If he wins his freedom, he is yours to marry. You should be there."_  
_"Will you not be present, My Princess?" Hester asked._  
_Danica gave her a sad look and told her, "I'm afraid that I cannot." Hester's sad face almost broke Danica's heart. "I have been advised to skip this particular battle and considering that my chosen is not directly involved, I have no irrefutable arguments to be allowed to attend."_  
_Aster quickly interjected with, "Hester, you should get prepared and go into the courtyard. It will be good for Orionus' morale to see you waiting when he is brought inside." Aster waved over a few maidens to collect Hester and help her to prepare. Hester gave Aster one last suspicious look. SHE was the Princess' chief handmaiden and should always be at her side... But, now she had her chief bodyguard and chief caregiver (whose position was similar to Hester's but included being over all of the handmaidens, all of the bodyguards and all of the decoys)... The position that Hester hoped to someday have in the kingdom, possibly when Danica sat on the throne._  
_ Aster entered the courtyard and approached the empty table. She looked at it. It was hard to believe sometimes that this simple stone structure symbolized the things that she still sometimes had nightmares about... War itself. "War is natural," she heard the Queen's voice say and she immediately fell to her knees. "You'll mess your dress, young maiden," the Queen said._  
_"I dare not neglect bowing in the Queen's presence," Hester said._  
_"Stand," the Queen commanded. Hester did so. She could not see the woman looking down upon her, through the doorway. "Right now, I am merely a citizen, giving homage to the Universe for its wisdom and its power. It is my ritual to remember the Universe before each battle - to be certain that I know my place in it; so that I will know that each battle ended just as it was intended."_  
_Hester fumbled with her necklace and she asked, "As a citizen.. do you ever worry that perhaps you might be overthrown, in any way? When I was little, my kingdom was stormed by soldiers, my parents were executed, and I was taken into slavery and given to you, as spoils... have you ever worried of such a thing happening here?"_  
_"I do not __**worry**__ about anything. IF such a thing were to happen, I would look to the Universe, just as I always have. What is bothering you, Hester?"_  
_Hester gasped and reflexively looked up at the doorway, seeing only light when she did, at first. But, the Queen quickly allowed her to see her... She looked just like Danica, but rounder and her flowing tresses of black hair had silver in it. Hester quickly looked away and the Queen laughed, "Hester, I am a citizen. Would you feel more comfortable if I invited you up?"_  
_"If you..." but the woman didn't wait for Hester's answer. Instead, Hester felt herself being drawn up, through the doorway and entering the palace, which she did not even know the location of... She looked around and gasped, covering her mouth. There were thrones, everywhere, with former kings and queens seated in them. She rushed to a pair of thrones where her parents were and touched their cold bodies. "Are these statues?" She asked._  
_"No. These are wells," the Queen said. They are deceased, but the energies of your kingdom returns to them. 'The well' is a position. It is ordained by the universe and even more prestigious than that of King or Queen." The Queen kneeled before Hester's parents and Hester did so as well. "I kneel before each well and I thank the universe for providing a place of refuge for energy whose temples have been collected by the stars, and I ask the well to provide our champions with a source abundant for victory and I explain that if it is not so then it was not the will of the Universe."_  
_"Why are you sharing this with me?" Hester wondered._  
_"Because you were feeling left out. You felt like you are starting to not belong. You are a member of my daughter's home and a citizen in our kingdom. You belong."_  
_"I feel like I'm being alienated. Is it because of Orionus?" Hester asked._  
_"It seems to have more to do with the Enemy Prince, Eosphorus," the Queen said. She marched to the doorway and opened it for Hester to see Eosphorus in the gardens, with a few of his people. "He is never to be trusted, do you understand?"_  
_"Yes, My Queen," Hester said. _  
_"If you find anything out about him - anything at all... I need you to tell me," the Queen said. She reached round her own neck and removed a necklace, "Blow breath into the jewel and I will be alerted. Meet me where I introduced myself to you. If _ANYTHING _should happen concerning this prince."_  
_"Yes, Your Majesty," Hester said._  
_The Queen smiled and gave her a hug. "You will forget about this room, but not about your assignment. If you disobey me..." The Queen looked into Hester's eyes and said, in a deep, croaky voice, "You will perish." Hester woke up on the cold floor of the courtyard, next to the table and she glanced around her. What had happened? Had she passe out? Fallen asleep? She felt like she had some type of important dream - but she could not remember what it was all about... only that she was bowing to the Queen... She heard noise and quickly pulled herself up and had just enough time to straighten herself out before they entered the place. _

_ Brought in with shackles around his wrists and ankles and several soldiers, ready to attack if he seemed about to try anything suspicious, Hester wondered if he would even be able to properly do what he was assigned to do. When the prince's Right Hand entered, accompanied by (Mike, Brittany, Santana and Matt), Hester was shocked not to see the prince with them. He NEVER missed a battle, ever._  
_Shihab quickly noticed the same discrepancy and mentioned, "It is out of character for your prince not to show up for a battle."_  
_Right Hand smirked and removed his coat to hand to Santana as he said, "Well, the Prince is so confident in today's victory that he prefered to watch the battle from the battlefield." He smiled at Orionus and shook his head, "I'm sure you envy him that privilege. Will you be able to operate in your condition?"_  
_Orionus did not bother to look up from the table, as he attempted to try to locate the sparkle on the gameboard that might be Eosphorus. If he was on the battlefield, the former general wanted him dead..._

_ Tina was keeping a lookout, all around, utilizing every gift that her eyes held. Aster was keeping it hidden from all detection, knowing that the King and Queen could still see, but would not be looking over anything but the courtyard with a battle this anticipated taking place. Alpheratz was diligently trying to make sure that no unsuspecting person wandered upon them, as she sensed most of the power and energy in the courtyard, or various other places. Noone else was in the gardens, at this time, but those here gathered with them, to help and to witness this... OUTRAGEOUS event. April, Eosphorus' chief caregiver was posted with Alpheratz. In case she missed someone or they came in undetected, April could hypnotize them into not using their gift to disturb things._  
_ Alpheratz felt like the biggest traitor to the kingdom that ever was, but Oracle had counseled her on it. She had been told not to tell, to help - because this union would save all of their kind and bring the lands back to the Time of Harmony, heard of in legends - when kingdoms did not fight and conquer, rise to fall and be overthrown and replaced and so on. That future gave Alpheratz hope. She was betraying her Queen, yes.. but she was being a faithful tool of the Universe... at least she hoped._  
_ Sheliak played songs on the harp as Danica's maiden, Aphasia and one of Eosphorus' concubines, Marley fixed her dress to trail behind her as she approached Eosphorus, standing next to Tina. Alpheratz awaited Danica at this altar and when she met with them, Oracle officiated this ceremony. Tina, briefly used her telescopic vision to see the actual battlefield - where Artie was fighting and had been injured, it appeared, several times. She frowned and shut her eyes, blinked and changed her line of vision to the courtyard. She saw Shihab speaking with Hester, while she tried to watch Orionus' performance on the table, but the prince was obviously sending her away... _  
_Hester left the room and began to head their way. "Someone's coming," Tina said to Sean. "The chief handmaiden..." Sean extended a hand and Tina guided it in the right direction, so that he could pause Hester from entering the gardens._  
_Joe quickly brought in the wedding jewelry that he custom made for this event and when the proceedings were done, they left together, in secret and in silence._  
_Hester entered the gardens and searched around... Just as she supposed, no one was there. She tested, by commanding, "Aster, if you are here and hiding anyone or anything, show yourself." She waited and sighed, then returned to the courtyard, "No one there, Your Highness," she said to Prince Shihab._  
_"Took you long enough," he commented. She glared at the back of his head. Jerk. She'd only taken a few moments... she looked at the battlefield table and was shocked by the changes in numbers there. Quickly she approached the table and asked Orionus in a soft voice, "How long was I gone?"_  
_"For at least an entire round," he said, still not removing his eyes from the board. She let out a grunt and in confusion folded her arms. She glanced over at the group with his opponent. They were eyeing her suspiciously. She squinted at them and said under her breath, "I would like to know what is going on."_  
_Brittany opened her mouth, honestly about to reply, when she held her head. Santana swooped her up and instantly rushed her out of the area. Matt and Mike watched them leave, but didn't move. Hester did._  
_ She followed them out, ready to interrogate the hell out of them, or at least the golden haired one who obviously knew something! She was about to reach them when Alphenatz and Oracle intercepted her, "Is there a problem, Hester?" Oracle asked._  
_"Someone stopped time on me while I was headed to the gardens to check to see if the Princess and Aster were there. I think that they have a time stopper in their camp and when I tried to question them about it, the golden haired one tried to answer and was deflected."_  
_"Thank you, Hester. I'll handle it from here," Oracle said._  
_"You don't have the ability to interrogate her," Hester reminded her._  
_"Mind your place, Hester!" Alphenatz ordered. _  
_"My place is next to the Princess, but I was not there and something may have happened to her..."_  
_"We actually have both been handling looking out for Princess Danica since before you knew she existed," Oracle said. "Without you. I think that we can manage and I'll handle it from here." She glanced at Hester up and down and turned on the balls of her feet to approach Brittany and Santana._  
_Hester huffed and locked her hands together, behind her back as Alphenatz offered, "She didn't mean anything by it, Hester. I realize that the Princess allots for you to handle her and deal with her as a trusted friend and even on some level a sister, but you have to remember that you are not a princess and you must mind your place in the chain of command. That golden haired woman may be an enemy, but she is also a princess to be. She is the bridegroom of the most powerful prince in the kingdoms and to challenge her could bring war to our kingdom. You must allow this to be handled diplomatically, or we will have to distance you from the princess and the kingdom." She offered Hester a hug, but Hester did not return it. Instead, she watched as Oracle spoke with the two women, then came back to report._  
_"Their time stopper is with the Prince," Oracle said. "Perhaps another time stopper is in the kingdom."_  
_Alphenatz said, "Hester, head back to the courtyard. I will gather a search party to detect the perpetrator."_  
_"I'll be a part of it," Hester said, determined that she would interrogate the two women later, herself, as well._  
_Alpheratz said sternly, "The. Princess. Wants. You. In. The. Courtyard."_  
_Hester smiled tightly and quickly turned to go, with her eyes tearing up._  
_"You might be the only person able to calm down Orionus, if something happens, Hester. You play a very important role in that room. We don't need you out here, for now."_  
_"Yes, Caregiver," Hester said. Something did not seem right and she felt suspicious of... just about everyone, now. But what could she do? She had her orders and the Princess obviously did not trust her as much as she did Alpheratz._  
_"She's going to continue being a problem," Alpheratz said._  
_Oracle commented, "There's nothing more that we can do about it. I've told the Princess of my visions and she refuses to believe that Hester would ever betray her for any reason. All that we can do is alienate her in hopes to keep her distanced enough from the Princess."_  
_"She is too dangerous. She needs to be taken out, while we have the chance," Alpheratz said._  
_"She's a handmaiden, so the kingdoms would not be moved by her death, but the Princess will and will use all of her power to find the truth... and I am inclined to believe that she will find it. Hester is her personal property and destruction of it is equivalent to stealing from the Princess," Oracle said._  
_"For the greater good, I will handle the details and keep all others out of it," Alpheratz said._  
_"She has not yet done anything to warrant such a fate, Alpheratz."_  
_"The main purpose of having an oracle in the main court is to prevent enemies from being allowed to do the things that they will do. I will no further discuss this with you. Carry on."_

Mercedes handed the orb to Sugar to put up in a certain place. She and Jesse were assigned to such a mission and in the meantime, she and Sam worked together, addressing each of their different groups with instructions and helping morale by showing their faces. Everyone was back now and ready to serve, but they wanted to make sure that everyone was alright.

Shelby watched Quinn approaching and handed the baby off to April to cut her off. "You can't keep me from her, Alpheratz," Quinn said.  
"Sure, I can. Susie!" Susie appeared and took Quinn, disappeared and reappeared alone. "Thank you, Susie," Shelby said. Susie nodded once and resumed the work she had previously been doing.

Carmen came rushing outside of her quarters and waved a red flag, which Sam noticed and said, "Carmen's calling."  
"I'll go see," Mercedes told him and did so. Carmen led Mercedes to the television, where there was footage of arrests being made and outcries from the public.  
"We haven't seen our children in years and we know nothing of their terrorist ties!" Mike Chang Sr. was saying as he and his wife were forcefully thrown into the back of a government van. Mercedes' heart sank.  
She saw soldiers hitting Millie Rose with the butt of their guns while subduing her as she begged them to please stop and insisted that her daughter, Marley was not a terrorist.  
She saw a woman speaking to the cameras, with the name _Cassandra July: Newly Instated S.T.A.R.S. Program and Facility Director_, under the screen and Becky behind her, "We are confident that we will collect each of the terrorist that attacked the facility. As of now, we have no information on their whereabouts nor do we know how many are involved in this terrorist organization, but we do have a list of persons who indeed are certainly involved and we have collected the family members of those involved and we also have a list of victims and at least two missing doctors from the facility."  
Then, there were photos with names and information on the screen: Mike Chang Jr., Tina Chang, Marley Rose, Jesse St. James, Dustin Goolsby, Holly Holiday, Grace Hitchens, "All of these people are extremely dangerous and there is a reward for each of them, _dead or alive_. Thank you. Excuse me," Cassandra July made her exit with Becky following her, both of them talking quickly to each other, while the controlled chaos around them continued and the reporter looked back to the screen.

"And, as we already know, at least Tina Chang, of the list of terrorists that we have is in fact one of the Starchildren. She recently came out as such in an interview with myself during a protest of the facility, which we now know was most likely a means to observe the building in order to attack it," Andrea Carmichael reported. "If anyone sees any of these people, authorities are stressing to not engage with them, please. Instead, alert the Global Defense Agency in your area…"


	15. We All Have Our Destinies

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

**Jesse: Auriga **(the charioteer)

**April: Corvus **(the crow)

**Tina: Eridanus **(the river's end)

**Mike: Mu Draco **(the dancer/dragon)

_Oh, and I don't know if I ever mentioned the meaning of Kurt's name Sheliak. It is "the harp." I hope that this chapter doesn't throw you guys off too much. There is a lot in it. Y'all know that y'all can always message me if you need to know something. Also, sorry about the delay in updates. Please forgive and enjoy.._

**We All Have Our Destinies**

Sam was speaking about some different plans when he suddenly looked around and asked, "Where is Quinn?" Mercedes cleared her throat and shook her head. "I need her," he said, plainly. "Do you know where she is?"

"She's away from me," Mercedes said and pressed her lips together with a sigh. Sam frowned, then looked out in front of him, using Wade's ability to find out where Quinn was. He scoffed and shook his head, then teleported away. Mercedes cleared her throat again and spoke, as though it had not just happened. "We aren't familiar with July as we were with Sylvester, but our intel suggests that she's just as crazy and currently has been given even more influence. I hate that those of you who survived as SIDs have human family members who are being targeted. Know that we'll do everything in our power to try to free them and bring them here for protection from the human backlash…"

Quinn fumed in the locked closet until the door opened and she nearly ran Rachel over storming out of it. Rachel instinctively shielded her womb and stared at the woman with wide eyes. Sam pulled Rachel behind him, protectively and assessed Quinn. "Who put you in there?" He asked.

"Who physically did it, or who ordered it?" she asked back. "I just want to be next to my Princess. I only wanted to serve her again. Alpheratz and her stock her are still…"

"I'll handle it. Just as I did before," Sam promised and Quinn collapsed onto him, crying. "Don't worry. You're still as important as you always were."

"Only to you, Prince," she said, sobbing. Rachel's head was tilted and her face was puzzled. She literally could not comprehend what the hell she was witnessing.

"That's not enough for you?" He asked Quinn.

"Of course it is," she said and wiped her tears on his chest. "Yes, my Prince."

"Good." He pulled her back and traced her outline with lit fingers, "I need you to relax and take care of yourself." He stopped his hand right at her womb and smiled, "This baby can't be jeopardized by anything." She nodded her head and held herself. Sam turned and pointed at Rachel, "Neither can that one!" When Sam exited, Rachel remained, standing there, wholly confused.

Quinn rushed out of the room and back out into the training area where she saw Mercedes, right in the center of the warriors' circle with Sam, holding the orb beneath her arm and talking. The crowd was too large for her to get to them, so she called out mentally,_ Whisper, I need to see you._

_**I'll contact you when you're needed. **_She replied and continued on. Quinn went back into her quarters, and lied down, hugging herself, as though she were in restraints, curled up in a ball, as though she had no bed covers to warm her and no room to move around without falling onto the floor and being stuck there. That was what she had gotten used to. She just wanted to go home.

After she arose, Quinn looked over at Rachel, reading something on her notebook, seemingly in no rush to do anything. She went over, sat down next to her and said, "Sorry."

Rachel's eyes followed Quinn's voice, but her face remained on her screen. "You've nothing to be sorry about," Rachel said. "I was going to inject you with something that you didn't want to be injected with and you tried to defend yourself. In the process, the same thing happened to me that I was doing to you. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me." Rachel set the notebook down and finally looked at Quinn, "I have never seen humans band together and try to do what's best for each other the way that I have seen your people do since I got here. Sightgift has been wonderful to me, and because of my baby, everyone has treated me like I belong here. I'm... sorry that I spent so much of my life doing the things that I've done to you."

"Yeah... forgiven. I'm trying to make amends with everyone," Quinn said and furrowed her eyebrows, "I feel like I have always been on the outside, looking in. I feel like I have always been alienated from the ones that I care about, so when I try to do something, it translates so, so wrong..."

"You tried to kill Sam and now the others are mad at you," Rachel said, nodding.

"It started before that."

"Like... before you came to Earth?" Rachel asked.

"Yes! Like, in another life, I loved them so much and they just kept me at a distance. I wonder why I am even here. I wonder if I am something that the Universe created for suffering."

"Do such things exist?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. I don't even know why I'm talking to you," Quinn said.

"I think that I do," Rachel said and reached out to touch Quinn's womb. She got tingles when she did, and Quinn moved away from her hand. "We have a connection, Quinn. You and I are as much alike as we are different. This baby is changing my life, and if you need help with anything, I'll be here."

Quinn sighed and got up, "I don't need anything. Thank you for your forgiveness.. and your apology."

"Same to you, but – just remember what Sam said. He said that you're important to him. I don't know what he meant, but I have come to learn that Sam can be trusted. He may have had the humans fooled for all of those years, but as it turned out, he always knew that he could save you all. If I were you, I would be overjoyed to be important to somebody like him." Rachel said, sadly and rubbed her belly, affectionately, as it began to hurt a little.

Quinn nodded and said, "Yeah. Well, later."

_Eosphorus rolled off of his wife, filled with bliss, heart merry, and energy between them sparkling tangibly in front of their faces and on their skin. "We'll have to tell them, soon… or we'll have to run away."_

"_Auriga and Aster are handling all of the arrangements for that," Danica said._

_The Prince felt a stirring inside of him. It was a new ability that he had not yet fully come to appreciate. Someone was in danger. He wondered who. That bothered him. Then, her face appeared to him. Hester. Was it Hester who was in trouble? "And what of Hester?" He wondered._

"_Hester… will not be with us, Eosphorus," she said._

"_I've already told you that I insist that she is. You, or someone needs to include her on this. I had a vision about her!" He said, sitting up, suddenly serious._

"_Yes, well Oracle had a vision about her, as well and I have to say that her vision was offsetting and I can't risk bringing her with us," Danica confessed._

"_You've kept a secret from me?" He asked, hurt._

_"I've protected some knowledge…"_

"_Tell me, right now," he said._

"_Oracle had a vision that by Hester's hand or word, you would be killed! The details were fuzzy, but we have reason to believe that my mother somehow finds out about us and she uses Hester as a tool, because Hester is so closely connected. I can't let her near you, knowing that," Danica said._

"_I can protect myself!" Eosphorus snapped at her and got up._

"_Where are you going?" She wondered._

"_Hester is in danger! I have to help her," he said._

"_What do you…" But, he teleported. He was gone. Danica groaned and climbed out of the bed collecting her robe, as she did. Where was he even going? To Hester's bedchamber? Orionus would surely… She rushed out of her room and set off to try to find him. He would most likely be invisible. She needed Aster!_

_ Hester sobbed, on her knees, unable to reach her necklace and summon the Queen, with her arms tied behind her, a gag in her mouth and a blindfold around her eyes. The Prince's chief caretaker had to be there. That was why she was not able to use her powers! And she guessed that Alpheratz was probably here, too… keeping lookout for any others to not sneak up on them. The Prince's guard, that sneaky chameleon had abducted her on her way to her bedchamber! Alpheratz was working with the enemy! Then she heard it – Oracle's voice. Tears began to fall. "Hester, we are so sorry about this. It's just that what is happening between the Prince and our beloved Princess is bigger than any of us, and certainly bigger than you."_

"_Shouldn't we allow her to speak up for herself? To offer some kind of explanation?" She heard Aster ask. That hurt even more. Aster, too? Aster, her friend. Aster, her SISTER. "I'll make sure that nobody but us can hear her, in case she decides to scream." She removed the gag._

"_I'm not going to beg you traitors for my life!" Hester said. She felt a powerful slap across her face._

_The sting was followed by a confirmation. Alpheratz, who she knew was there, snapped, "You're the traitor! What is it? You got tired of being the servant and wished to be a princess again? I don't know what the Queen or whatever apparition who posed as her arranged with you, but the universe has spoken to Oracle and we won't let you be the fall of great things to come for our kingdom!"_

"_Like I said, I won't beg," Hester said, sniffling. But, her heart cried. Her mind cried out to Danica. __**How could you? I never would have hurt you.. **__Danica hearing the thought followed its trail, to try to find her friend. She had no idea what was going on…_

"_Should we do this, or would you prefer to?" Hester heard the Prince's chief caretaker ask._

"_As Chief Caretakers, we should do this… together," Alpheratz said, brandishing the dagger. "Sheliak has played his harp music to put Orionus into a deep sleep. When he awakens, she will be there, and his weapon will be in his hand, as he is caught. Are you prepared, Corvus, to take upon this burden, with me?"_

_Corvus replied, "I am." She reached for the blade and the two women, both holding onto it drove it towards Hester, prepared to drive it through her heart as she silently sobbed. _

_She heard gasps. She heard, "My Prince!" exclaimed by Corvus, Eridanus, and Mu Draco… so the caretaker, the advisor and the guard were there! "My Prince, please understand, we did this to protect you…" She heard Corvus say, then silence herself. When the blindfold came off of her eyes, she saw Eosphorus, glowing with anger, gently removing the binds from her wrists. She also saw Alpheratz, still holding the dagger that she had obviously stolen from Orionus – a gift from the Princess when he won the battle that secured his release from prison…_

_Hester tried to charge at Alpheratz, but Eosphorus quickly restrained her, "It's alright now," he told her, softly. He helped her to stand and when she burst into tears, he cupped her face and made her look at him, "Hester, no one is going to hurt you. No one is going to __**even try**__," he stressed through his teeth, looking at the others, briefly before returning his attention to her. "As long as I live." He traced his fingers over her necklace and stared at it for a time. He stroked her hair and let her cry as he told the others, "Hester is not to be harmed. She is a valuable part of Princess Danica's court and she is valuable to our reign. If Hester so much as has a questionable accident, I will personally hold each of you responsible." Hester looked at the others as he said this, but he quickly pulled her face to look at him again as he told her, "You are important to me, to Danica, and to our future. You are such an important part, we can never become who we are meant to be without you. Please remember that and forgive the heinous attempt made on you, tonight."_

_Hester sniffled and removed the necklace the Queen had given her from her neck to throw at Alpheratz. "I have served this kingdom, our King and Queen and my Princess for most of my life! I am done!" She squeezed Eosphorus' hand and begged, "Take me with you?"_

_He gave her a small smile and said, "Not tonight, Dear Hester." Danica came running into the hallway and looking around, frantically._

"_Hester? Hester… where are you?" She asked, crying._

_Alpheratz, Aster and Oracle fell to their knees before Eosphorus and begged forgiveness. "Get up," he said. He looked at Aster and told her, "I would have expected it of them, but I am disappointed in you, Aster."_

"_My Prince, I promise that I will never stray from your plan, ever again. I thought that I was protecting the Princess, as is my main priority in life. I will here-on-out always trust your judgment," she said._

"_Drop the cover," he commanded and when she did and Danica saw them, she rushed over and collected Hester into an embrace. Hester cried onto her as she squeezed her tightly. Danica searched all of the others present for an explanation, but decided she would have one soon enough. Right now, she needed to see that her handmaiden was well._

"Tomorrow, when we go, I need you to promise that no matter what, you will remain here, with the humans and the pregnant," Sam said.

Mercedes cradled Thuraya and said, "I wouldn't endanger the safety of any of them again."

"Also, I need you to spend some time with Quinn," he said.

"Eosphorus…" she began.

"She had to do what she did. If she hadn't, I never would have been able to invoke the ability of resurrection for the others. She played a strong hand in saving her people," he defended.

"She didn't know that was what she was doing when she did it," Mercedes argued.

"But, her intentions were always for the greater good of her people when she did. Puck may have been out for revenge, but she was trying to protect her Princess and her people. Please, don't continue to hate her for that. You forgave your court when they would have executed her to protect you."

Mercedes tilted her head and asked, "What?"

Sam stared at her. "Oh… we didn't get around to sharing that information." He gave her a glimpse into the memory and when he came out, she glared at him. "I intended to share it sooner, but things sort of got out of control after she ripped off that necklace that your mother gave her."

"We had to speed things up and flee before we were found out and executed," she said, nodding. "But, why is my court so hellbent on trying to make decisions for me. Decisions that I, as their Princess have the right to make, and me only?" She asked.

"Because they believed you to be too good to make such decisions. They thought that you would Snow White it up," he said. She stared at him, "Once Upon a Time? Remember, Jesse was showing the show when he took over the system at S.T.A.R.S.?"

"Whatever. There is no excuse!" she snapped.

"Well, you're like me, as long as you're near me."

"I still don't understand how that happened," she said. "We made love before and I never adapted your energy that way. So, what changed that made me able to do it these days?"

Sam sighed and put his head down, "Remember the explosion, now? Now that you're all better?" He wondered.

"Yes…"

"You miraculously survived, but Thuraya didn't," he said, sadly, stroking their daughter's cheek as he did. "Only… you actually didn't. You had enough of my energy inside of you at the time to temporarily use it for yourself. Your body, in its survival mode, went to its first and best line of defense. To use whatever it could to protect you. With my energy, you were able to tap into Artie's power. The three of us are the only ones who healed after that explosion and the only other survivors were the Graeae and Sean."

"I… died then?" She wondered.

"You tapped into a power that we didn't know that you had. But, it was dormant in you, just like it was dormant in me. After you woke up, from the dead, we labeled it at STARS as Apotheosis. In the superhero world, if a character had this, they could die and be resurrected in a new form, with new abilities," he said. "My folks always wondered why I was so obsessed with comic books when I was younger. They had no idea how much those things reflected my real life."

"Wait, but I didn't wake up with a new form, though. I woke up as myself," she said.

"You woke up not pregnant, with no sign that you ever were, with everything that had occurred completely gone from your mind," he said. "Your body's defense system is amazing. When you awoke, you had retained your original gift, taken on Thuraya's gift, and adopted mine. Your version of my gift was a bit different and I never figured out why. But, I presumed that it was because of some physiological changes that you probably made to your body to keep your heart safe and the alterations made it difficult for you to wield the ability with my magnitude. Of course, that was hypothetical. Once again, time ran out on me."

"Well, Doctor, you can study me any time that you wish," she said and winked at him.

Sam smirked and pointed at her, "I need you to make things right with her."

"I will. I'll have a seat with all of them," she said.

"Thank you," he told her, and reached out to take Thuraya from her arms.

"Whoa – right now?" She asked. He gave her an incredulous look and a nod. She rolled her eyes and mentally called her ladies to herself, heading for where she would have them meet, as she did.

_Danica ran throughout the castle, an adorable child with two puffs in her hair, and long flowing curls that extended from the bottom of them. She was giggling, as she hid, hearing everything that her brother was thinking as he attempted to find her. She then heard another voice and followed it. This voice was unfamiliar, and she did not understand why it was inside of the castle. She followed the voice until she came into a room full of orbs, presumably inherited from the years and years of wars that her people were involved in. The entire room was like that of light, and she followed the voice until she came to a woman with golden skin, seated on a chair, like a statue, bound to it. "Oh... Are you the new queen? That last one didn't last very long."_

"_No, I'm not the queen! I'm the princess. Who are you?" Danica asked, approaching the woman._

"_Giselle. I am the last of the queens from the Queendoms of Harmony... but I am willing to guess that you don't even know of these things. No, they would only tell you when it could no longer be withheld. It's a rite of passage to learn of me..." She stared at Danica for a moment, then squinted her eyes in her direction and said... "You are an intruder."_

"_I am not! I am the princess here and this is my parents' castle!" Danica said._

_But Giselle simply said, "The universe has not called you to receive what I have to say."_

"_Then, why would it allow me to be here?" Danica wondered._

_Giselle said, "Not you, Child... _Her." _When Danica looked behind her, she saw Oracle approaching, with her red hair flowing free, wearing only her nightgown. She reached out to Danica and Danica moved to go towards her. "Pause," Giselle commanded. Danica froze. "Turn to face me and ignore your family oracle. I will take care of her."_

_Danica faced Giselle and Giselle smiled and held her hands out, extending the orb that she held. "Before kings and kingdoms, the universe selected Queens and we ruled our lands in harmony and peace. We sat upon the very thrones which you now see and we reigned together, with no mention of war and even no word in our vocabulary to describe such an unnatural phenomenon."_

_Danica approached the throne and wondered, "What happened?"_

"_An unruly King revolted against his Queen. He drained her of her energy and that of her female heirs and declared that he would rule, in her stead. Energy had never been forcefully taken by another. It had only been retrieved by the universe, by nature, up to that point. We did not know what to do, but to create orbs to contain energies. Everyone was affected. We once could do it all - everything that energy has to offer, but with the orbs we created, we entrust into the orb which we had always drew our additional energy from. _This _orb."_

"_What does that one do?" Danica asked._

"_It contains all that energy can do. It can contain any and all energy. The Evil King sought to take full control of it, himself, so that he might withdraw the energies from all of the other lands and make his empire a conquering kingdom. My purpose is to keep it safe until the next who is to hold it comes for it... Danica Thaqib, you are that Queen."_

"_What do I have to do?" Danica asked._

"_You have to make peace with the Enemy Kingdoms. You have to bring them back together and select rulers to reign amongst you and set the orb in the center, equaling out the energies amongst you and release all of the conquered energies back into the Universe, that it may disperse them exactly as it should."_

"_How do I do that?" Danica wondered._

_Giselle smiled and said, "It is not the time. Unfortunately, the Universe is still preparing a partner for you. Your journey will not be easy, but do not forget this place. Do not forget this orb. You must never allow it to come into someone else's control. You must protect it."_

"_Yes, Queen," Danica said and bowed. She came back to, standing in the hallway, where she had been playing and she looked into the bedroom that she stood nearby to see Oracle, fast asleep in her bed. She had entered Oracle's dream and seized it, without effort. Oracle awoke and looked at her. "Hi, Oracle."_

"_Princess... do you have need of me? I apologize. I seem to have fallen ill and could not keep myself awake."_

_Danica entered the room, "Did you dream?"_

"_I did... but I cannot remember the dream, but that you were there and I couldn't speak to you nor hear you. I simply saw you, bowing before a throne, with light all around you," Oracle said and climbed out of bed. "Were you actually inside of my dream, Princess? Did the Universe choose me as a medium for a great ordination?"_

"_The message was not intended for you, Oracle. But, trust me that your counsel is and will forever be greatly considered and regularly followed." Oracle bowed before the young princess and kissed her feet before rising to set forth on the rest of her day. _

Quinn froze when she walked into the room with the orb in a containment chamber and saw Shelby, Sugar and Emma seated on one side of a round table and Mercedes on the other, with an empty seat next to her. "Come sit here, next to me, where you belong," Mercedes said. Quinn quickly followed that order. "Alpheratz and Oracle have something to say to you."

Shelby took a swallow and told Quinn, "It was not my place to try to handle you for the princess. She is well able to rule and to manage without my interference. I'm sorry for how I treated you."

"Do you mean when you had Susie teleport me into a locked closet when I wanted to see Princess Danica, or do you mean when we were home and I had no idea what was even going on with her and the Prince, but you saw fit to have me kidnapped by his guard, bound, blindfolded, gagged, and nearly executed by my husband's weapon so that you could frame him for my murder?"

"All of it," Shelby said with a tiny shrug.

"Kill yourself," Quinn said, glaring daggers into the woman. Shelby got up and left the table.

"Shelby, sit down!" Mercedes said, in a voice much like Quinn's . "Hester…"

"Cancel," Quinn said, still glaring at Shelby as she sat down. "I just wanted her to know what its like to feel powerless to stop something from happening. It hurts. It's a struggle. It's a fight. But, what you did to me was cowardly and unwarranted!"

"I saw a vision of you having the Prince killed," Oracle said.

"And wasn't it always you who insisted that there was no way to change the future? Wasn't it you who insisted that no matter what our choices, the future is what the universe wills?" Quinn asked. She rolled her eyes at Emma's silence, then looked at Mercedes, "Princess, I am not interested in rekindling friendships with these women. I am here merely to beg of your forgiveness in my move against the Prince and to pledge my undying allegiance to you, now that I once again know exactly who I am."

"It's done," Mercedes said. "You are my best friend, in the heavens and in humanity." Mercedes reached out for Quinn's hand and said, "And Eosphorus wants you to know that you are just as important now as you always were. _He _had a vision about you, too. He didn't save you just because of the fact that Oracle's vision was one that would turn out to be the best hope for us all. He saved you, because whatever greatness that you have been selected to accomplish – he believes in you, and I do too."

Sugar spoke up now, saying, "Hester, I'm sorry about my role in it. I know that Apheratz is my superior, but I should have brought the information straight to the Princess. I'm really sorry…" Sugar began to cry.

"Aster, you've more than made up for it with the faithfulness and the work that you did for everyone while we were still inside of STARS. You had to follow your chain of command and the life of a handmaiden never is as important than the Princess, even on a whim."

Mercedes spoke, now. "I have something for all of you." She opened a box that had articles of jewelry from home in it. She handed Sugar a necklace – the necklace worn by the chief bodyguard. The one that she had always worn, with its insignia to indicate exactly who she was to the Princess. She handed Emma her family oracle necklace. She handed Quinn and Alpheratz necklaces…

"My Princess, you've mixed our necklaces around," Quinn said, and almost handed the chief caregiver's necklace to Shelby, but Mercedes quickly snatched it from her and put it on her neck.

"Alpheratz was willing to take the life of one of her sisters. She was willing to take something valuable from her princess," she said.

Shelby's eyes teared up as she said, "I am lucky to even still be able to be your chief handmaiden."

"You only will do so because I know that you did have my best interest at heart. But, don't get it twisted. I am the royal heir. I always was. And now Thuraya is. And even though Hester has served me many years, when Thuraya comes into womanhood and into her power and her position, Hester better know that Thuraya is who she reports to."

"But, Hester disobeyed you, as well…" Shelby started.

"Dominance disobeyed Mindwhisper." Mercedes held her hands out, "We had been programmed not to know any better since we arrived. What you did – to her and to me… YOU should have known better."

Tears fell down Shelby's face and she shook her head. "The Queen chose her over me. The Queen chose to trust this flaky, former princess who had never known the true power of royalty ever before to do her bidding. I was raised as your mother's handmaiden. I was granted power by her. I. Served. The. Queen… and served you only as an extension of her. But, she chose this damned girl, who not only had no true allegiance to her, but you didn't even trust her enough to confide in her of your dealings with the Prince. Now, once again, she is being chosen, over me… by someone whom my entire existence is dedicated to." Shelby scoffed and laughed. She nodded her head and said, "I think that I will take her up on her offer." Before anyone could move quickly enough, Shelby ran and jumped from the window.

All of the others rushed to it and looked out of the window to see her on the ground, with a metal rod, from the construction site impaled through her. She was writhing and Matt and Azimio were looking horrified and calling for help. Mercedes teleported to where they were and ordered them, "Help me to get her off of this." When they did, she reached out and touched her, with glowing hands that were healing the wound as the two men restrained her. There was a crowd growing. Sugar, Quinn and Emma were running through the building to try to get out there to see about her.

By the time that they got there, Shelby was healed and crying. Mercedes told her, "You're still my property, Alpheratz. You don't get to make decisions like that!" She burst into tears and collected her, bloodied, from the ground. Sam appeared, without the baby in his arms and stepped in front of them. Mercedes explained, "She tried to kill herself. She jumped from the window and landed on that damned pipe. I found out that I can yield the power like you can," she said, with a sad smile.

"You also found out that your new chief handmaiden can't be trusted," he said.

"She was hurt, Eosphorus. She felt desperate," Mercedes defended. "She just needs a bit of time to recuperate."

"We're in war. We can allot for soldiers that can't be trusted. Crux," he called. Blaine stepped forward and Sam nodded his head once, at him. Blaine placed his hands on Shelby's head and Sam pulled Mercedes away from her. "We all have our destinies to live out. Alpheratz, you were instrumental in uniting Danica and I and gave years of loyal service to her house…" She began to gasp and Mercedes struggled to get to her. "But, I can't have you jeopardize everything with your unstable behavior and your bitterness. You wanted to die. We won't take that choice away from you." Mercedes struggled with Sam, but he wouldn't let her go.

"Stop! Crux, I order you to stop!" She commanded.

"She wanted to die, Danica," Sam repeated. Blaine let go of Shelby and she fell to the ground. Mercedes stopped struggling to get to her. "It wasn't up to you to Snow White that up for her. She earned the right," Sam said and let go of his wife, who simply cried as Sugar, Quinn, Susie and Aphasia collected her. Sam sadly watched them take her away. She would forgive him. She couldn't help herself. But, Alpheratz was a problem and this was what she wanted, now that she knew that Danica realized that she was a problem. "Matt, see to it that she receives a burial of utmost respect, with a worthy stone." Matt nodded his head and collected Shelby from the ground, over his shoulder.

Sam walked to Jesse, who stood with folded arms, watching with Rachel on one side of him and April on the other. "I need my court to meet me in the Orb room, right now. Let everyone gather in the meeting field to wait for us to give them further information." April stared at Shelby being hoisted away, sadly. Sam snapped his fingers in front of her face and ordered, "Now, Corvus!"

"Yes, Sire," she said and quickly went to gather everyone up.


	16. Rescue

_**Previously at S.T.A.R.S…**_

_**A group of very special children spent their entire life caged in a scientific research facility. They thought that they were different, but eventually realized that they aren't even of the Earth.**_

_**Now, they have escaped and found a place that they can reside, until the event of, if possible, they can return to their home planet. But how can they ever return home, when they ran away to escape impending persecution and never-ending war?**_

_ Danica trembled as she stood before her parents, in the throne room, being questioned, "What was happening when the enemy prince was in your palace, with members of his court and Hester lost a gift that I personally gave her?" The queen asked._

"_I have told you, Mother – I do not know. Only Hester could tell you, for sure."_

"_I have tortured Hester mercilessly and she has not spoken yet." The Queen said. Danica lowered her head as she cringed at the thought of her friend being tortured. And yet, she had not spoken. "Danica, have we not been good parents and fair rulers?"_

"_You have been the most noble, wise and kind in all of the lands. Mother, I am still unsure of what you believe is taking place, but I can assure you that there is no treachery afoot," Danica insisted. She watched as the guards brought Hester out, practically reduced to shreds._

"_Take your ragdoll and leave," The king said and Danica cried as she helped Hester up to carry her away._

"_It has started. He is turning her against us," The king said, softly._

"_She is telling the truth," The queen replied._

"_I do not trust him and we still do not know why he and members of his court were at her palace on that evening. We must have her removed and hidden away, with the knowledge of her whereabouts known only to us…"_

!

_Eosphorus startled in his sleep when he felt someone enter his chambers and he tried to awaken, but couldn't move. His eyes were focused on an apparition coming closer… It was her. She lifted a hand and said, "Don't be alarmed, my love. It is only a visit." When he saw that it was her, he could move again. He sat up, looking confused, impressed and disappointed._

"_You're able to visit me in my dreams, and yet, you've chosen to make me miss you each night that we are apart?" He accused._

"_Perhaps you will find it more meaningful to examine why I would take such actions tonight, instead?" She said and sat next to him on the bed. She sighed and took a swallow, "My parents are going to take me away from the palace and relocate me to a place that no one else knows."_

"_They can't do that!" He started, but immediately realized that by law, they could. They could do whatever they wished with whomever they wished, in their kingdom. _

"_If I run away, I will be declared a traitor and an enemy. IF I shall take on such a role, I will have to be somewhere which they can't find me…" She said sadly._

"_Your ability to communicate with the minds of others stretches into dreams… I can use that. I am going to take you away from all of this. I won't let anyone keep us apart," he promised._

"_You'll have to act quickly. My parents do not flinch. They will be arranging things for my departure, right now."_

"_I've already started," he said, with a smile. She froze when she saw Aster and Auriga enter into his bedchamber. How Eosphorus managed to so easily emulate each aspect of every ability he came in contact with, when she herself used reserve and restrictions with it terrified her and impressed her, all at once. "Do you wish to remain here, Danica?"_

"_The less I know exactly what is happening, the better. My parents are not to be moved and they will stop at nothing. We have to work quickly and quietly to escape their notice." She faded from the dream and awoke in her own bed._

Mercedes walked into the meeting that Sam was having with his court. They all looked up at her and became silent, except for him. He kept talking, "And when that area is breached, that's when we will be able to take control of the sector holding the human allies of the SIDs that have been captured…" She cleared her throat and he looked up at her and smiled, softly. "I'm thinking that we need to move as quickly as possible. The energy of humans is different than our own and I don't know how resurrecting one of them is going to pan out,if any of them have already been killed. Zombie movies have made me paranoid."

"It's good to act quickly. They're most likely already being tortured for information and we don't know for sure how much some of them know," Mercedes commented and took a seat amongst his servants. Sam noticed that she was unhappy and he knew it was in regards to what happened with Alperatz, but he wasn't going to bring it up. "And we don't want anyone else's blood on our hands," she said and threw him a look.

Jesse's eyes widened and he said to Tina and Mike, "Actually, we can probably get started on our individual assignments…"

"Because the princess is here, does that mean that things are dispersed? Because, I for some reason have been holding on to this belief that Prince Eosphorus and I are supposed to be partners," Mercedes said to Jesse, as he tried to leave the awkwardness of her arrival.

"We are, partners, Danica. There's no need to make a scene, nor pick fights with the servants," Sam said.

"You think that you can dismiss me after what you did? Alpheratz was MY chief caretaker. She virtually RAISED me! Would we brush things under the rug so easily had I killed Corvus?" Mercedes asked, pointing a hand absently at April, when she did.

April interjected, "Well, unlike her, I don't want to die and let's be realistic – you were having her replaced. Alpheratz wore out her use before we even left home…" Mercedes was about to make a move against the woman, but Sam beat her to it, forcing April to bow before Mercedes, with a flick of his hand as he pointed down at her.

"Danica is my wife and your ruler. You are _never _to address her in such a way, _ever _again, Corvus!" He roared at her as she winced in pain. He calmly released her and approached Danica to say, quietly, "Danica, she has a point. Alpheratz _wanted _to die."

"She doesn't get to choose that unless she's big and bad enough to do it and keep it that way. You deliberately went against me in front of everybody, and now that your little babysitter steps up in front of others, you act like its blasphemy. She's simply following your lead. You diminished my wants and embarrassed me and hurt me in front of everyone, then you called a damn meeting without me, and…" Sam kneeled down in front of her and kissed her feet. She stared down at him, confused, but silenced.

"Danica, you are my life. I would have risked everything and everyone, if I had to, only for you. I'm sorry that I hurt you, but I stand by my decision and we have to work together. You have to learn to trust me, again. Everything I do, I do it for the best, for you first, then for everyone else." He rose to his feet and looked into her eyes, "Alpheratz was a schemer. Should I have given her the chance to do something horrible to you because of her bitterness in not only being demoted, but being forced to continue to live? She wasn't worth the setbacks that I know that she would've caused. She didn't deserve to remain in your court or your presence," he told her.

"We have to discuss stuff like that, _together,_" she told him and bit her lip, already having forgiven him after prostrating himself in front of his entire court. She couldn't argue with that type of appreciation.

"We will. I'm sorry. You have any input on the tactical intelligence for this thing?" He wondered as he pointed to the screen that Jesse had some information on. She shook her head and took her seat, as they went back into the mode of going over the plans.

The army headed for the vans, as Rachel watched. Dustin and Grace were talking, as they geared themselves up, getting ready to go help their friends out. She tilted her head when she saw a kiss exchanged between them. That was odd. She thought that he was with Holly. But, Holly quickly came up to break the two of them up, laughing as she did and stuck her tongue out at Grace, as she teased them. Rachel went to them, with bottles of water and offered them. "In case any of you needed water…" She said, momentarily stilling their actions. Dustin stared her down as Grace accepted the waters.

"Thank you, Dr. Berry," Grace said and handed a bottle to Holly, then Dustin. He reluctantly took it. Rachel frowned. He _really _didn't seem to like her, at all. Grace noticed how he was looking at her and interjected, "Excuse my rude fiancé. He doesn't mean to be so… mean. It's not you, really."

"It's her," he said and walked off.

Rachel sighed and said, "I would expect the Starchildren to act that way, but not the humans."

Now, Holly's eyebrow shot up and she asked, "What do you mean, you would expect the Starchildren to act that way?"

"I only meant because I have wronged Starchildren, not other humans…"

"First off – Starchildren are just as human as you, Lady. Secondly, wrong is wrong, no matter whom it's against, and third, if my brother seems off, it's because our foster parents once tried to take in a Starchild and they were executed and we were both put into a mental health facility, because we saw the government kill two innocent humans to secure a baby. So, excuse us if your contribution to that type of treatment against humans or anybody just doesn't sit well with everyone else." Holly tossed the water back to her and went to find Dustin.

Rachel nervously opened the bottle of water and said, "I'm sorry about what happened."

Grace shook her head and reminded her, "You were practically a baby yourself when that happened. Dustin just got bounced around the system a lot as a kid and he finally ended up in a really good house with loving foster parents and Holly, then… that happened. When I met them, he was even worse. Holly says that I curbed his hate, but I can't tell, most of the time."

Rachel glanced at Holly and Dustin and asked, "When did you know that you believed in what he believed in? Did you have SIDs in your life, too?"

"I didn't have SIDs in my life, but when Dustin and I got together, there was a lot of secrecy on his part and I was falling in love with a stranger, it felt like. I knew that I had to do something about it, so I spoke to Holly, tried to get her to talk to me about these things. I told her that I loved him too much to not be able to know about him and that if I couldn't learn what he was keeping from me – if it was that bad, I didn't want to have anything to do with him. I meant it. She told me everything about their past and about plans that they were currently involved in to help liberate the Starchild population. When I talked to Dustin again, I told him that I knew and that I was with him, to stay. He broke down and let me console him – said he hadn't ever dealt with any of it, that it was all just shoved further down and coated in secrecy and lies. It was refreshing for him to be able to share it." She gave Rachel the empty bottle back, "Thanks, again."

"Jesse had a lover, before. Before this incident with me… They say that she's been taken with the other SIDs allies," Rachel said, sadly. "Do you know her? Is she… is what they have real or part of an act of normalcy?"

Grace tilted her head and mentioned, "Seemed real to me, at the time. But, he has a dilemma, now, doesn't he?" She moved to head back to her friends and Rachel smiled sadly, as she glanced at Jesse and Sugar, going over a few things with other Starchildren who were going to be rushing into STARS with them. He seemed to feel her eyes on him, because he stopped for a moment and looked her way, but he quickly regained his train of thought and went on with his words. She headed back inside and passed by Mercedes with Quinn and Emma, talking, as she did.

Quinn reached out and touched her on the arm, which caused a flip in her womb that she always found extremely unsettling. She touched her belly and gave the women a smile as she continued on her way. "What was that?" Emma asked.

"Rachel Berry passing by," Mercedes said.

"There seemed to be something else," Emma commented, but brushed it off as they headed out. Quinn glanced back at Rachel, though… she was right. There WAS something else there. There was something strange between the two of them and Quinn was almost certain that it had to o with the babies that they were carrying. It just… was weird, though, because Quinn couldn't recall anything happening with the other pregnant women, but maybe it was because they were Starchildren. Maybe Rachel was having similar occurrences with the others. She would investigate.

Susie brought Thuraya out to give her father a good journey kiss and he also gave one to his wife. "Hold down the fort, Princess."

"Bring home the victory, Prince," she replied. The three vans drove away and she watched as they became invisible.

Quinn went into the "maternity ward," after having Susie lure Rachel out under some type of pretense and she quickly asked, "Is anyone else getting any peculiar vibes off of the pregnant human?"

Aphasia answered, eating, "Uh, yeah… she's a human pregnant with a Starchild. How can we not get weird vibes from her?"

Quinn sat on the bed, next to Aphasia and shook her head, "No, I'm talking about an actual vibe – like a reach out of communication or a spark of something, or… I can't explain it, but not anything that superficial." Aphasia stared at her and looked over at one of the others. Both looked confused. "So, it's just me? Emma felt it, earlier, or maybe she saw it in a vision, but it definitely isn't my imagination."

"I believe you… I just don't understand," Aphasia told her.

"I don't either, but I bet that the prince will. I'll have to speak with him when they return," she said and got up. Aphasia waved the others out of the room, too. She didn't have a title or position, but not too many wanted to mess with "Medusa."

When they left the room, the woman next to Aphasia wondered, "You think it's like what we experienced, earlier?"

"I don't know, Lauren. I think that I'll just shut up for right now, and I'll go as far to say that you probably should, too." Aphasia said.

Lauren nodded and got up, as well. "So… does anyone know if we have an actual Starchild doctor around, because I still have questions on whether or not I can participate in heavy lifting in this condition?"

Aphasia blinked. "I don't recommend it," Aphasia said, shaking her head.

"You use your ability, though. Super strength is mine… Shouldn't it not effect the little energy ball- in there?" She wondered, looking down at her belly. The two of them continued to debate and walk as Mercedes and Quinn watched them from the backs of both of their minds.

"So… It isn't just you and Rachel, then," Mercedes said to Quinn.

"Obviously not," Quinn said, glad that she had a reason to work with the princess. "I wonder what it means… Nobody else seems to be going through it."

"What name does Heracles prefer these days?" Mercedes asked.

"S.T.A.R.S. named her Lauren. I've heard her called Thrash around here."

Mercedes stepped forward, with her fingers intertwined with Quinn's and they were in front of Lauren, "Lauren. Thrash. Heracles… which do you prefer?"

"Whichever, Princess," Lauren said, bowing her head. "I serve you."

"I am familiar with you as Heracles, one of the captains of Eosphorus' army. He is quite fond of you. For what reason did you come with us on this journey?" Mercedes asked, squeezing Quinn's hand and using a dominant voice, "And tell us the truth."

Lauren spoke, honestly, "I came because the Prince needed his best soldiers to ensure his safety and my allegiance is to him, as we have fought beside each other numerous times and when I realized that something was happening, I came to him and asked if I was a worthy enough warrior to be taken with him on his journey. He approved."

Quinn now asked, "What is it between your baby and Aphasia's baby?"

Lauren glared at Quinn, "Princess, is the wife of Orionus to be trusted in this place?"

Mercedes let go of Quinn's hand and Quinn missed it already. It hurt her to hear her say, "The Prince does. Now, answer the question."

Lauren nodded and said, "I think that it's because the baby that I am carrying is not fully starchild. The baby that Berry has is half human… I think this one is too."

Mercedes said, "Proceed."

"Doctor Berry disappeared after the insemination. The scientists needed another hybrid to assess potential threats if she was never found," Lauren answered.

Quinn balled her fists and her breathing became deeper. "So, they impregnated you with human semen." Lauren nodded once. "Was it a procedure, or did one of those things actually _touch _you?"

"My initial breeding partner was Joe, but the pregnancy did not take. I was still in the program, as we are enrolled in the program from preconception to nursing, so I was available for further experimentation. Dr. Hudson volunteered his services for the sake of science." Lauren's eyes were glossy as she cleared her throat. "I had to be highly restrained, because the formula enhances our powers and I probably would have crushed him into dust with my bare hands. The pregnancy took. They were going to keep me separated from everyone else, so see the results."

Quinn shook her head, "But, why doesn't your baby react to other starchildren's babies? Why doesn't mine react to anyone but Berry's?"

"Intertwined destinies," Mercedes said. "Thank you, Heracles." She took Quinn's hand and stepped back, to leave Lauren's mind.

Lauren gasped and clenched her head. "What's up, Thrash?" Aphasia wondered.

"I think that I was just speaking with the Princess in my mind… but I don't remember what about…" Lauren said. Aphasia hugged herself to keep from reaching out and touching her friend and they continued on as Quinn and Mercedes watched them go.

"Intertwined destinies?" Quinn repeated.

"Your child and Rachels child and the children of those two have intertwined destinies. I don't know if all four are connected, but I do know that at least two and two are connected. Only time will reveal in what way."

"The prince has mentioned my baby, before. I wonder if he knows…"

Sam tied his hair up and got into position. Tina was on one side of him, Mike on the other and his troops were behind him, invisible to all of the eyes of the enemy. Artie and several of Rory's multiples broke off at a certain point and scattered to their individual purposes. Rory remained near the core group, because his multiples could be destroyed with harm to himself, but Sugar needed _him_ to remain near her (where he would truly be safe). When everyone was in place, Sam used Mercedes' telepathy to send out a mass signal of "Now!"

Matt spread his arms and the earth beneath the area where Tina saw that they were keeping most of the SIDS allies began to crumble beneath, making the building fall apart in areas. He lifted his arms into the sky and the water pipes began to burst and water began to flush through the place. While the staff dealt with this distraction, Sam ordered, "Go!" Santana, Mike and Brittany rushed to incapacitate the hoard of guards set up around the principle target area. Jesse shut down all entryways into that area, then froze the computer to avoid override attempts.

"What in the hell is going on?" Cassandra July asked, looking at the screen and the scene around her.

Becky fearfully latched on to her and insisted, "It's them! It's them! They're back!" Cassandra shoved the girl off of her and quickly went to the intercom system to try to set the alert, to send reinforcements to the guards in the POW sector. Becky cried and hid under the desk, shaking. She didn't even want to come back to work after having been spared of being murdered while many of her colleagues hadn't been so lucky… but… nobody leaves S.T.A.R.S. alive, unless they're starchildren, apparently.

"I need immediate backup sent to the POW sector. All available forces to the POW sector!" Cassandra called over the intercom, then tossed her dress jacket to the side and opened the weapons vault in the office. "Just what I signed up for!" She said, selecting weapons, "Becky!" She snapped. "Arm yourself. We're under attack."

"We can't beat them!" Becky said, from under the table.

Cassandra smiled and went her, "Becky… this is OUR turf. They aren't invincible and we can't allow them to get an upper hand. Now arm yourself," Cassandra pressed one of her guns to Becky's face, "Or you're useless to us and just a waste of supplies." With the other hand, she offered Becky a handgun, which she accepted. "That a girl! Let's go!" Becky was terrified to go, but she followed, as bravely as she could, as much as Sue would have wanted her to and watched, impressed as Director July fearlessly rushed towards where the chaos was sure to be…

Cassandra rushed into the area, firing her weapons and saw several of her bullets go right through starchildren, like they weren't even there. "Sugar!" She hissed and put her weapon away in lieu of hand-to-hand combat. She pulled Brittany away from her current task and punched her in the face. The fight was on, then. Santana was busy with freeing others and didn't immediately notice the fight. Cassandra clenched Brittany by the throat and swiftly reached for her knife to cut her while she was yet tangible and when she stabbed the woman, Brittany let out a pained cat roar and scratched her across the face.

"Fera?" Santana called, hearing the roar, then swiftly advanced on Cassandra, beating the piss out of her in a matter of seconds and snatching Brittany away from danger. Cassandra tried to fire her weapon at both of them, but missed, because of Santana's speed. She turned around, pointing her weapon, but was met with the hands of Blaine, and quickly brought to her knees.

"I am so sorry, Miss July. We can't have you hurting us," he told her as she became a sickly color and slumped to the floor as she passed out. He went back to healing any injured ones that they were leaving with, allowing them safe passage with the cluster being created around Sugar as she kept all of them cloaked and grew more tired doing so. When they had the numbers to maximum capacity, Susie placed her hands on them all and POOF!

Those who remained in the S.T.A.R.S. facility rushed, to a rendezvous point to meet Sam. Jesse was sure to open and close the entrances and exits needed for them for maximal ease. They no longer had Sugar there for intangibility and Susie was no longer there to teleport anyone. The threat was higher, now. Tina kept her eyes open for any dangers as they all passed through the building and connected with a crew of Rorys who had infiltrated the "dungeon," where the facility tortured subjects. There were a few there who had been seriously harmed. "This will take a lot of time to heal all of them… Will you be able to carry them to the rendezvous, Rory?" All of the Rorys nodded their heads in unison.

An army of Rorys, Blaine, Marley, Tina and Mike ventured together towards the goal, with those who were being rescued, until water began to rush into the corridor that they were inside of. Blaine said, "Matt – handle that, please."

"He's not with us," Tina said.

Blaine looked around. "Where the hell is he?" He wondered, as the water crashed into them knocking several of the people down.

Tina searched the building, switching her vision from x-ray to telescopic, until she found him. "Wounded," she replied.

"Lifeline to Red King – we need assistance!" Blaine called into a nearby intercom.

Over the intercom, Jesse announced, "I'm trying. It looks like they've set hoses into the room. Those are not computerized. I won't be able to shut off the water, but I might be able to get you out of there. July is destroying circuitry. Unfortunately, that corridor is outside of my range."

"Shit!" Tina hissed and she and Mike rushed to try to force the door open. "Rory! Some help!" A group of them assisted in trying to open the door as Blaine called out.

"_Princess… we're in trouble!"_ Mercedes gasped when she heard the cry and stormed up to the rescue team, "Go back inside! Wade – help them to find Matt and Blaine. Matt is injured and alone. Blaine is with the rest of the SIDs allies and the rest of the team… and they're about to be drowned to death.

Rory commented, "If we can get the door open, I can swim them all to safety."

"You'll drop dead!" Sugar fussed, borderline immobile herself.

"Rory, Wade, Susie – they need you," Mercedes said.

"Yes, Princess," they answered in unison and Susie took both of their hands, even though she was tired and teleported them back inside of the facility. Sugar rushed to try to catch them, but was too slow.

"Hester, Nthanda, help your sister to recovery," Danica ordered. Quinn and Aphasia rushed to gather Sugar up and began to bring her inside. "Everyone else, help the others." She added as she went, to join in on this last command. And may all of the stars in every galaxy light the path for those still stuck inside…


End file.
